City Council Agenda Items

Next Tuesday the Costa Mesa City Council will address several items that cry out for comment.

CLOSED SESSION ITEMS
In their closed session, which precedes the regular session at 5:00 p.m. and is not open to the public, they have two items on the agenda which evoke much interest.

UNION STRATEGY
The first is a conference with the City Manager and Director of Administrative Director regarding negotiations with the four public employee unions. While I hope that the council will hear good news - that the unions have agreed to meet and talk - I doubt that will be the case.

LINGERING ACOSTA SUIT
The second deals with the civil suit filed by Benito Acosta as a result of the events of the evening of January 3, 2004, when he was strong-armed by the Costa Mesa Police Department, dragged bodily from the council chambers and arrested. You will recall that the criminal case against Acosta was dismissed by the judge because of a boneheaded move by our legal counsel.

FLY ON THE WALL
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that session.



RETURN OF THE SCHONES FAMILY - AGAIN
On the agenda for the regular meeting the council will, once again, hear a presentation by the Schones family regarding their illegal dwelling unit at their home on Costa Mesa Street. I've lost track of the number of times this issue has been heard by the council and Planning Commission. Yikes!

"SECRET" AGENDA ITEMS?
Way down at the end of the agenda, under New Business #2, are two interesting new ordinances that are being proposed. The first, (a), apparently deals with the timing of adjustments for city council compensation. The second, (b), apparently deals with adjustments to council benefits. I say "apparently" because there is no staff report and no text of the ordinances available for review. For there to be an agenda published without any detail on the items is very unusual and the absence of information on these items makes it virtually impossible for concerned residents to address these issues prior to the council meeting. I'm not the only person concerned about this situation...

DONN HALL SERVICE SATURDAY
Just a reminder, Saturday, March 14th, a public memorial service will be held for former mayor Donn Hall. The event begins promptly at 2:00 in front of the Estancia Adobe. Parking is available at Estancia Park, 1900 Adams Avenue.

Service For Former Mayor Donn Hall Set For Saturday

CITY PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCES SERVICE
As reported here previously, former Costa Mesa Mayor and recent Chairman of the Planning Commission, Donn Hall passed away earlier this week. The following is the complete text of the Press Release issued by the city regarding a memorial service for Hall on Saturday, March 14th.

March 10, 2009

Costa Mesa, California - MEMORIAL SERVICE SCHEDULED FOR DONN HALL

In light of former Mayor, Council Member and Planning Commissioner Donn Hall’s many years of dedicated service to the Costa Mesa community, a public memorial and remembrance service has been planned for Saturday, March 14, 2009. The service will begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. at Estancia Park, located at 1900 Adams Avenue in Costa Mesa. The services will be held in front of the Estancia Adobe and parking will be available in the Estancia Park parking lot.

Mayor Allan Mansoor released the following statement to offer condolences on the death of former Mayor, Council Member and Planning Commissioner Donn Hall:

"Donn Hall was truly a remarkable Costa Mesan -- a caring individual who immersed himself in the community and its development over the last 40 years. He had a very long and distinguished career in public service. Donn saw Costa Mesa’s population grow from 77,200 in the 70s to almost 114,000. He weighed in on many City business items over those years and was a tremendous champion for property rights. We are very saddened by his death. His strong leadership remains an inspiration. I would like to extend my personal condolences to his wife, Trudy, and his family. He will be greatly missed by all of us who had the pleasure to work with him."

DIDN'T KNOW HIM, BUT ADMIRED HIM
I did not know Donn Hall personally, although I've watched him in action on the dais as Chairman of the Planning Commission in recent years. His gruff, curmudgeonly demeanor hid his big heart. It became predictable that he would invariably stand up for the little guy. I was particularly impressed with his practice of trying to insure that every person speaking before the commission would be treated with respect and fairness. Sometimes that involved reining in a commissioner who seemed intent on flogging an applicant. He always made me smile.

PANIAN ON HALL
Long time educator and community activist, Hank Panian, has published a Townhall entry in the Daily Pilot paying homage to Hall which does an excellent job of briefly summarizing Hall's contributions to Costa Mesa. You can read that piece HERE.

HE WILL BE MISSED
Hall influenced many people in our city, including a generation of elected and appointed leaders, and certainly did set a benchmark for decorum on the dais. One can only admire the decades of dedicated service he gave to our city. Our condolences go out to his wife, Trudy, and his family. As many before me have already said, he will be missed.

DONN HALL PASSES

PASSES PEACEFULLY TODAY
This morning I received a message, since confirmed, that former Mayor and, most recently, Chairman of the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, Donn Hall, passed away peacefully this morning.

WORKED HARD ALTHOUGH ILL
As mentioned in an earlier post, Hall has been ill for several months. Nonetheless, he continued to soldier on, fulfilling his duties on the commission. Those of us who have observed him in action will recall his sometimes gruff demeanor and always the champion of the little guy.

REBUFFING RIGGY
I, personally, enjoyed watching him swat then-commissioner Jim Righeimer back into line when he felt he was abusing an applicant. Recalling him on the dais makes me smile.

NO INFO ABOUT SERVICES YET
At this time no information is available regarding services but the message I received indicates that the family would prefer no flowers, food or telephone calls.

DONN HALL WILL BE MISSED
We wish his wife, Mesa Consolidated Water District Director Trudy Hall, and their family the best at this difficult time.

Smiles, Frowns, Faith and More...

NO JOKES, PLEASE!
Seldom do I pass on jokes, etc. because that practice becomes something akin to the blob - it grows exponentially as recipients simply must reciprocate and jam email inbox with all manner of garbage. I'm grateful to all my email correspondents for honoring my request to never, ever, under any circumstance, send me jokes, recipes, homilies, chain letters, charitable solicitations, etc.

A "PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT" FROM THE ORANGE JUICE! BLOG
That being said, our friend Terry Crowley over at the Orange Juice! Blog posted a clever piece - a "public service announcement" - that might bring a smile to your face. Here's the LINK. If you're in a particularly grumpy mood it might help brighten your day.

A NEW SOURCE FOR SMILES
I'm running out of reasons to continue to subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. I like to begin each day by reading many of the offerings on their "Comics And More" page. That is no longer necessary because I've discovered THIS SITE. I fear that the Los Angeles Times may be destined for the fate recently threatened by the Hearst Corporation for it's San Francisco Chronicle - closure. Apparently, the venerable Chronicle is bleeding bucks to the tune of $50 million last year and the flow of outward bound dollars has increased this year.

NEW LEADERS TO BE NAMED ON PARKS & REC. COMMISSION
Tonight, at it's first meeting since two new members were appointed by the City Council, the Parks and Recreation Commission will meet at their regularly scheduled time of 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. You can get a good idea of what this commission is responsible for by visiting THIS SITE. First up will be the election of a new Chairman and Vice Chair. It will be interesting to see what impact the two new guys, Jeff Mathews and Kim Pederson have on the proceedings.

START TIME TO BE CHANGED
Then the commission will hear a proposal to begin their meetings at 6:00 p.m. henceforth to, in the words provided in the staff report, "..reduce staff and operational costs and to increase community participation in meetings.." I'm not sure about those "operational costs" - perhaps it's staff overtime, but it seems to me that by starting a half-hour earlier would tend to reduce the opportunity for community involvement rather than increase it since most folks work outside the city. Of course, the City Council meetings begin at 6:00, so maybe this plan has merit. We'll see...

BILL LOBDELL'S NEW BOOK NOW AVAILABLE
Today was the first day of public sale of former Daily Pilot Editor and Los Angeles Times Religion Reporter Bill Lobdell's new book, "Losing My Religion - How I lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America... and Found Unexpected Peace". I bought my copy today at Borders on Newport Blvd. and 19th Street. That will be the site of his first book signing event this Saturday, February 28th beginning at 2 p.m. See you there.. Here's a link to Lobdell's blog which includes a calendar of his events, including an appearance on KOCE Friday, February 27th at 6 p.m.

MORE ON DONN HALL
As mentioned in my last post, long time community activist and elected leader, Donn Hall, is in the hospital. The Daily Pilot has a piece on his illness HERE. We wish him and his family all the best.

The Winds Of Change

ALL HANDS ON DECK - FINALLY
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting tonight, though brief, was interesting nonetheless. It got off to a good start because all five members showed up for this meeting.(Note: original image - a tornado - apparently caused some readers consternation. So, I swapped it out for the unambiguous image now shown.)

RIGGY TAKES THE HELM
Right off the bat, as anticipated, Carpetbagger Jim Righeimer was elected, 3-2, as the Chairman. Fisler and Sam Clark voted no. Then, in a surprise to me, Steve Mensinger nominated Jim Fisler to retain his seat as Vice Chair, who was confirmed unanimously.

SELF-SERVING SERMON IGNORED
Before the considerations for Chairman were made - and while Fisler still had control of the dais - he provided a little self-serving sermon about the Planning Commission's role in city government and made his point that he thought the person elected as Chairman should have many years as a city resident, with years of experience on other commissions (he specifically mentioned the Parks and Recreation Commission) and committees. Obviously, he was talking about himself. Of course, the new guys just ignored him and chose Righeimer. One had to chuckle.

NOT YOSEMITE SAM, BUT...
There's a new sheriff in town now. It's clear that a "Righeimer" Planning Commission is going to be one that will enforce the rules or force changes to them. I suspect we'll see this group - at least the majority - cutting fewer applicants some slack in their applications. I expect to see fewer conditional use permits and variances issued. This was evident tonight when the proposed restaurants at the location at 19th Street an Harbor Blvd., where the Pasta Connection lived for four decades, were denied because of inadequate parking. Fisler was a happy guy because he's tried to get the previous commission to take a stronger stand on parking. Way, way too many strip malls and shopping venues in this city are severely under-parked.

DONN HALL ILL
Mention was made tonight about the illness of former Mayor and most recent Planning Commission Chairman Donn Hall's illness. Hall is apparently in the hospital because Fisler mentioned it tonight during the meeting. During his decades of service to this city he proved to be a "man of the people", frequently getting his hackles up when he felt personal rights were being violated by "the system". We wish Donn Hall and his family well...

Egan and Hall Bow Out

ELEANOR AND DONN'S LAST STAND
Last night the Costa Mesa Planning Commission held it's final meeting with recently ousted commissioners Eleanor Egan and Donn Hall on the dais. Both were tossed aside by the current City Council majority last week and will be replaced with newcomers Colin McCarthy and Steve Mensinger.

WHY THEY WILL BE MISSED
This particular commission meeting was interesting for several reasons, but what stood out in my mind was that it demonstrated exactly why both Egan and Hall have been such valuable contributors during their tour.

RULES VS. HEART STRINGS
The most contentious issue dealt with an Eastside residence that has an outbuilding on the back of the lot that was built in the 1960s. This issue has bounced back and forth between the commission and the City Council for many, many months. The debate last night among the commissioners clearly pitted Hall against the other four, including Egan, who gave the best summation of her reasons for her opinion on the issue, while Hall didn't let the actual facts of the issue stand in the way of making an impassioned appeal to do what "was right" for the property owners. These two war horses will be deeply missed.

NEW (ILL) WIND IS BLOWING
With the exception of Jim Righeimer, the other commissioners, some speakers and members of the city staff took great pains to thank both Egan and Hall for their professionalism and contributions during their tenure. Hall and Riggy have clashed at almost every meeting during Riggy's tour. I fear we will see a very different tone on the commission once the new guys are seated.

FISLER IN CHARGE - AND DID WELL
I didn't catch the very beginning of the meeting, so I don't know why Vice Chair Jim Fisler conducted it when the Chairman - Hall - was in attendance and sounded like he was in fine fettle. Regardless, I thought he did a good job with that responsibility last night and particularly so during that above-mentioned item. He kept things focused and did a good job of controlling the tempo and debate. Yes, I was surprised, but was pleased.

COST OF A PARKS SEAT - TWO GRAND
Wednesday will be the last Parks & Recreation Commission meeting with the current crew. The new appointees, Jeff Mathews and Kim Pederson, will take the dais at the February meeting, replacing long-time commissioner Mark Harris and ousted commissioner Bob Graham. Mathews was a supporter of Gary Monahan and Eric Bever to the tune of $1,000 each during the last election and was on Monahan's campaign staff. Pederson is a former commissioner and long-time youth athletic activist.

PATRONAGE PREVAILS
So, off we go into the future with our commissions staffed to a greater extent with political buddies and contributors... sad, indeed.