A Trip Back In Time...

A LITTLE HISTORY FOR YOU...
In the words of our carpetbagger-in-residence, Jim Righeimer, let me give you a little history...

CONTEMPLATING
Over the Christmas holidays, when City Hall was closed and all was well with the world, I contemplated the future and, out of necessity, also contemplated the past.  That contemplation took me back to July 9, 2005, when I first began A Bubbling Cauldron.  I was using a bargain-basement blog host at the time, so couldn't use images, nor were commenting capabilities available... it was just me, writing and  hoping somebody might read what I wrote.

WAY BACK THEN...
The following is my very first blog entry, bemoaning the possibility of eminent domain being used to implement those now-vaunted Westside Overlays.  Of course, the bottom fell out of the economy a couple years later, so nothing happened.  But, I thought you might like a peek into my alleged mind back then.  For your reading pleasure:


Saturday, July 9, 2005
EMINENT DOMAIN AND THE WESTSIDE

The potential redevelopment of Westside Costa Mesa got a whole lot more interesting recently. On June 23, 2005 the United States Supreme Court ruled in a Connecticut case that eminent domain can be used to force property owners off their land so another entity can replace it to generate more tax revenue. However, the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution states, in part, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation". In this case that term, "just compensation", is just another way of saying, "way below market value".

If I were a business property owner on the Westside of Costa Mesa I would be shaking in my boots about now. It was bad enough when the residential overlay was approved for the entire area that will permit a willing industrial property owner to sell to a developer and facilitate the integration of residential units in the present industrial area. This recent ruling makes it a whole new ball game. Now eager developers can sweet talk our City Council into using the sledgehammer of eminent domain to oust even the most reluctant of property owners. Do I hear the jingle of campaign finance coins in the air?

You're probably saying to yourself, "Nah, our council members would never do that." Well, don't be too sure. It takes lots of money to successfully run for public office. Eric Bever, for example, managed to round up over $50,000 for his war chest in his slim victory last November. He and his pal, Mayor Allan Mansoor, seem likely to run again - Mansoor in 2006 and Bever in 2008 - so developers with jingling pockets will probably start showing up on their doorsteps pretty soon with plans for the "mansionization" of the Westside.

Ambitious Mayor Pro Tem Gary Monahan, who theoretically is termed out of a council seat after his current tour, might be looking forward to higher office - perhaps County Supervisor. I imagine he will have his ear cocked for the sound of jingling coins, too.

Lest you think the ladies on the dais will be left out, I suspect Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon can expect the developers to come calling, too.

If you're thinking to yourself that this won't affect you, think again. If you own a one of those little, old homes on the Westside in an area that falls under the shroud of the residential overlay, you might be getting a queasy stomach right about now. If you had a cocky smirk on your face a couple months ago when the Westside Redevelopment Oversight Committee's recommendations were usurped by Bever's sleight of hand that put the residential overlay over virtually the entire Westside because you thought it would rid you of obnoxious industrial neighbors, think about this: As I understand this ruling, it would be entirely possible for a residential property owner living in a redevelopment zone to be forced to sell his home for "just compensation" so a new, larger one could be built that would generate more property tax. If your little bungalow just happens to sit on a sliver of land that might be a key acquisition for a larger development, we could soon be seeing your taillights as you head out of town, because you sure won't be able to afford another place in Costa Mesa with the proceeds of your "just compensation".

Are you nervous yet? You should be - especially in this city, where the ruling troika on the City Council has already demonstrated a smug willingness to play fast and loose with the rules.

I, for one, expect to have more than a few sleepless nights about this issue.

THE WRONG BLOGGER IS LEAVING TOWN

ADIOS, NOT FOOLYA
We bid a fond adieu to our fellow blogger, Not Foolya. His two sites, Goat Hill Harper and Bizarro Tolip have been interesting reads. He tells me that "Fortune has it that me and mine are to exit Costa Mesa". I wish him well, where ever he lands, and hope he will find the time to read about the events swirling around his old digs and comment when he feels so moved.

Speaking of which...

KNEE-JERK REACTION BY MR. U. KNOW-WHO
Our old nemesis, the blogger who calls himself Mr. U. Know-Who, has responded to the recent decision by the Newport Beach City Council to move forward with the annexation of the Santa Ana Country Club and nearby neighborhoods, HERE.

Following his comments bemoaning the loss of "upwardly mobile citizens", he goes on to create a laundry list of things he feels the current council have not been aggressive enough in pursuing. It's important that we pay attention to this guy because the council majority does. Like a much-less-rhythmic Barry Manilow, he writes the songs for them to sing. He scripts their actions and uses the threat of non-support - as he did by taking credit for getting perpetually inept Chris Steel un-elected a few years ago - as a billy club with which he bats them around when he's ticked off at them.


EMINENT DOMAIN?
In his epistle, Number 1 of the eight items on his list - and probably closest to his heart - is this instruction to the council:

"1 - Work much harder to put homes on our view bluffs to attract upwardly mobile people back to Costa Mesa. If surgical eminent domain is needed, so be it. Get the job done!"

Did you get that phrase, "surgical eminent domain"? You will recall that I've consistently warned you about this from the very beginning, when the so-called "improvers" began to flex their muscles after Eric Bever took his seat on the dais. If Mr. U. Know-Who is writing the words you can darn bet that it won't be long until one or more of the majority on the council will echo it. Every member of the council has consistently said they are against eminent domain... we'll see.

READING BETWEEN HIS LINES
This character has in the past called for bulldozing what he refers to as, "barracks-style apartments", which he thinks are havens for gangsters and other miscreants. He's not fooling anyone - he means those Latinos in our midst.

THE DIMWITS AMONG US
Further on in his little rant he says:

"7. Stop listening to the anti-American haters, brown racists and assorted dimwits with small brains and big mouths and start listening to citizens who want Costa Mesa to be a first class American city, not a Third World slum."

It's clear to me that this guy means anyone who doesn't agree with his white supremacist rants and his plans for the expulsion of all brown skins from our city. I suppose he's including me as one of those "assorted dimwits with small brains and big mouths", which is just fine with me. I view things in this city very differently than he does. I view it through the prism of what is best for all residents, business owners and stakeholders in this city. It's clear from his actions and public pronouncements that his goal is to satisfy only the wishes of a very small minority. Many of those who follow his mantra obviously share his intolerance for anyone who is not white.

LEST YOU DOUBT ME
Do me a favor. I know it's asking a lot, considering the subject matter, but please read the following excerpt from his recent essay published on the New Nation News web site entitled, "Our Identity Comes From Our Genes":

"Race is not evil. It is to humans what breed is to dogs. It is nature's way. It is a step along the path to differentiation from others and to eventual specieshood. Blending back in by mixing unlike chromosomes is a folding of humans back into the undifferentiated mass. This is just the opposite of evolution. Evolution is a distillation from out of the mass. It always has been that way and it always will be that way. Humans need to face that fact and use it to their advantage. And to do this, they must not deny race and genes and human differences or try to overcome them to become Tan Everymen. They must seek to be unblended so that evolution can work and they must seek those qualities and characteristics in mates that will move them forward, via their children, on the path that goes to ever higher consciousness."

If that sounds vaguely familiar, just harken back to Germany in the late 1930s when a funny looking little guy with a tiny little mustache and a big mouth began preaching exactly the same thing - the purity of the Aryan race. Is this really the philosophy you want guiding our city?

BRIGHT ISN'T NECESSARILY RIGHT
Most people I know who pay attention to things in this city acknowledge that Mr. U. Know-Who is a smart guy - maybe the smartest guy in the room at any one time. With absolutely no sign of humility, he waves his alleged Mensa membership around like a battle flag. However, being smart doesn't necessarily mean he's right. As I've said in the past many times, his prodigious intellect is wasted on his vile, vicious racist rants that are published on the internet for the world to see. Never has this been more true than his most recent anti-Barack Obama publications on his blog and other sites. I'm not an Obama supporter, but Mr. U. Know-Who's comments about him are incendiary, to say the least. You may take a deep breath, hold your nose and read two recent essays HERE and HERE.

WATCH HIS CHOICES
As we move forward in this next election cycle I'm sure he will, as has been his practice in past elections, strongly express his views about candidates. Since he's been berating the current majority and, based on several years of written and verbal comments, appears to hate Katrina Foley's innards, it will be very interesting to see which candidates he will be supporting - who he thinks he can manipulate once in office.

DON'T FORGET HIS GOAL
Through the smoke screen Mr. U. Know-Who throws up about "making Costa Mesa a nicer place to live", remember what that means to him. It doesn't mean simply fixing potholes, which he has brushed aside as meaningless. The litany of things he has espoused to "make Costa Mesa better" - whether it's closing the Job Center, displacing the Westside charities, dislodging the industrial business on the Westside, to be replaced by upscale homes, the disbanding of the Human Relations Committee or his attempt to shut down the Orange Coast College Swap Meet - all have a common thread. That thread is the discomfort and dislocation of the Latino population in our city.

ARE THEY ALL RACISTS?
Do I believe every person who is moved by his rhetoric is necessarily a racist? Of course not! I do firmly believe, though, that there are more than a few folks in this town who follow his drumbeat of intolerance but ignore his real goal because they are uncomfortable with the changing demographic in our city. Many of those jumped on the Allan Mansoor/Wendy Leece anti-immigrant band wagon in 2006 because they apparently believed what they were being told - that the Latinos among us as the root of all evil in our city. The flames of that intolerance were fanned furiously by Mr. U. Know-Who and his small cadre of sycophants.

THE WRONG BLOGGER IS LEAVING
While Not Foolya and I disagreed on many issues, I'm sorry to see him leave town. However, given Mr. U. Know-Who's obvious unhappiness with Costa Mesa, I'm thinking HE might be a whole lot happier elsewhere. Instead of spending all his energy trying to turn our city into a throwback from the mid-1950s deep south, perhaps he could just find a place with his intolerant philosophy already in place - somewhere in northern Idaho, for example. I'll provide him with a road map out of town...

Eminent Domain Concerns Defused

This afternoon my email notification from the City of Costa Mesa told me that on the agenda of the next city council meeting on June 5th there will be an item regarding EMINENT DOMAIN. Well, those two words always get my attention and the notification was vague, so I made a couple of calls to the city for clarification.

I eventually received a call from City Attorney Kim Barlow, who wanted to let me know the item in question was merely some mandatory housekeeping. It involves an ordinance that affirms that the Redevelopment Agency (the City Council in a fancy dress) no longer has the authority to impose eminent domain on the original downtown redevelopment area.

So, my heart rate slowed a little and my blood pressure dropped back down to normal. I'm satisfied with her reply and was grateful for the quick response to my question.

As an aside, it's my observation from way, way outside that this contract with Barlow's firm to provide City Attorney services seems to be working very well. Not only does Barlow and her team seem to be ready with answers put to them on the dais, they also appear to be quite pro-active in anticipating potential problem areas and taking steps to head them off. Although the shift from an in-house counsel was quite controversial at the time, this move seems to have been the right one.