The Weekend Ahead In Costa Mesa

GROOVIN' WITH THE OLDIES
A good way to get an early jump on your weekend is to visit the First Friday Roadshow in the Costa Mesa City Hall parking lot.  From 6:00 - 8:30 you can wander through the rows of great old classic cars and hot rods, dredging up a little nostalgia, groove to the oldies played by the disc jockey and nibble tasty grub from a food truck.  Be there or be square.

SONORA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 50th ALUMNI REUNION
If you're a Sonora Elementary School alumni you can cruise on over a few hundred yards and re-visit your old haunts as the school celebrates it's 50th year Student Alumni Reunion from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.  Buy a Sonora t-shirt, make a commemorative tile for the 50th year tile wall  and visit with old friends.

DODGING THE DUI CHECKPOINT TONIGHT
On the way home don't get stuck in the most recent DUI checkpoint conducted by the Costa Mesa Police Department.  From 8:00 p.m. Friday, today, through 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning Costa Mesa officers will conduct the checkpoint somewhere in the city.  This highly effective law enforcement tool is funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  According to CMPD Lieutenant Greg Scott, "Over the course of the past three years in Costa Mesa, 547 DUI collisions have claimed one life and injured 247 of our friends and neighbors.  We arrested over 2,700 DUI's during those three years."

ELECTRONIC RECYCLING
Saturday, June 8th, there will be an Electronic Recycling Event in the City Hall parking lot from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.  Acceptable household e-waste items include televisions, PC systems, laptops, monitors, home entertainment systems, cell phones, desk top copiers, printers, fax machines, keyboards, DVD and VCR players, audio devices and loose wires in working condition or not.  They will NOT accept fluorescent lamps, microwaves, vacuums an cooling units such as refrigerators.  Here's your chance to safely dispose of that electronic junk accumulating at home.

RELAY FOR LIFE
Beginning Saturday, June 8th at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 9:00 a.m. Sunday, June 9th the American Cancer Society Relay For Life event will be held at Costa Mesa High School.  Join your neighbors as they run for this excellent event.  If you're not a runner you can still contribute.  For more information about participating teams and the schedule of events visit www.relayforlife.org/costamesaca.

Briefings, Finances, Pensions, Celebrations, Cops and Cars

EASY WEEK?  HA!
I thought this was going to be an easy week, hoping for a reduced schedule so I can whip this darn cold.  Ah, but it is not to be.

CEO BRIEFING 

First, The City of Costa Mesa finally released another CEO E-Briefing from Tom Hatch, HERE.  Here's a list of what's on it.  Go to the link above for details:

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday, April 30th, there will be a special City Council Meeting in council chambers beginning at 4:30.  You can read the agenda HERE.  It looks like this one is going to be a closed session, from which they typically don't return to report out, but you just never know.

FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Before that meeting starts, though, the Financial Advisory Committee will meet in Conference Room 1A beginning at 3:30.  The agenda for that one is HERE.  Of note is council member Sandra Genis' Wendy Leece's request to review Business License Fees.  The public is welcome at these meetings.  Since several members are also associated with the Mesa Water District, which is exploring ways to modify their investment policies to include higher-risk investments, and since our committee is exploring using a middle-man to handle some of our investments, these meetings may be enlightening.

PENSION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Wednesday, May 1, 2013, the brand new Pension Advisory Committee meets, also in Conference Room 1A, but at 4:30.  The announcement is HERE, but no agenda is available now. NOTE: Agenda now available HERE.  I suspect they will elect officers and begin to chart a course for the future.  Perhaps they will discuss the recent announcement by Cal PERS that it has approved employer rate hikes of 50% over the next few years, HERE.  They might also discuss recent announcements like the one HERE, in which the San Jose City Council discovered it cannot afford to bail out of CalPERS for current and former council persons - too costly.  And, they will certainly discuss the announcement last week that CalPERS investments have surpassed prior record highs, HERE.  Should be an interesting launch for this group.

60TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, May 2, 2013, at 5:30 in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) adjacent to the Police Station, the 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee will meet again to discuss the fine-tuning of their plans for the launch weekend.  You can read the agenda HERE.  Vice Chair Melinda Lowery will be in charge of this one.

TIPPING A FEW COPS
Also on Thursday and overlapping with that meeting is the Tip-A-Cop event at the Claim Jumper at South Coast Plaza.  From 5-9 p.m. the meals at that fine restaurant will be served by members of the CMPD and all tips provided to them will go to the Special Olympics.  And, no, boys and girls.. it doesn't mean you get to push a cop over - as in a popular pastime back in Jim Righeimer country - cow tipping.

FIRST FRIDAY ROAD SHOW

Friday, May 3rd, is the latest installment of the First Friday Roadshow - the classic and hot rod show in the City Hall parking lot beginning at 6:00 p.m.  As usual, there will be lots of great classic cars, music and food via a food truck - and it's free (the show, not the food).

 ORANGE COUNCIL MARATHON!

And, last but not least, Sunday, May 5th, is the Orange County Marathon!  Go HERE to their website for all the information, start times, road closures, etc.  This should be a very fun event and the weather report calls for a warm weekend, so stay hydrated, folks.

First Friday's Roadshow Tomorrow

ANOTHER CHAPTER OF NOSTALGIA FOR YOU
A reminder for you that the First Friday's Roadshow will take place in the Costa Mesa City Hall parking lot Friday, April 5th beginning at 6:00 p.m. and running until around 8:30.

CLASSICS AND CHOW
There will be many classic and not-so-classic cars there, plus a food truck to provide a little chow for you as you wander down memory lane.

KUDOS
Thanks for those community volunteers who continue to make this event a success every month.

A Very Busy Week Ahead

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
It's going to be a very busy week ahead in Costa Mesa, so here's some information that may help you plan your activities.



FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday is a big day in our town.  The first event you may care to know about is the next meeting of the Financial Advisory Committee.  They meet at 3:30 in Conference Room 1A at City Hall.  This meeting will include a presentation by Robert Porr, Senior Vice President of Fieldman, Rolapp and Associates, but the agenda - HERE - doesn't tell us what he's going to talk about.

SPECIAL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Next on the Monday agenda is the special meeting of the Costa Mesa Planning Commission.  This one takes place in council chambers beginning at 6:00 and will be marked by the swearing-in of recently-appointed commissioners, retreads Colin McCarthy, Jim Fitzpatrick and new guy Timothy Sesler.  There's only two items on the agenda, HERE, but the first one promises to generate some controversy.  This is the planning application for a 17-unit common interest development at 1259 Victoria Street - the site of an existing church facility.  You can read the long staff report HERE.  The meeting will be televised live on CMTV, Channel 24 on Time Warner Cable and Channel 99 on ATT U-Verse.  It will also be streamed live on the city's web site.

PUBLIC SAFETY TOWN HALL

 (Click images to enlarge)

Next on Monday's agenda is the public safety town hall hosted by councilwoman Wendy Leece at the Harbor Christian Fellowship, 740 W. Wilson Street.  That event will run from 6:30 - 9:00.

PARENTS MEETING AT ESTANCIA HIGH SCHOOL
And, also on Monday evening, Principal Kirk Bauermeister informs me that there will be a parents meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the choir room of Estancia High School at which the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's program, "Run, Hide, Act!" will be discussed.  I suspect the heroic event that occurred on Friday, February 15th in which Bauermeister and Assistant Principal Mike Sciacca subdued an armed, distraught father will also get some conversation.

PENSION STUDY SESSION TUESDAY
Tuesday will see a special study session of the Costa Mesa City Council beginning at 6:00 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, HERE.  This much-touted event will have two items on the agenda.  The first is a presentation by Joe Nation, Ph.D of Stanford University entitled "Unfunded Public Pension and Retiree Health Care Liabilities".  You can see the slide presentation HERE.  Nation is a highly-respected former northern California Democrat politician who has become the go-to guy for information on public employee pensions.  The second item on the agenda, HERE, is a presentation titled "Fiscal Impacts of 2.5%@55 Enhancement for Miscellaneous Group".  Both of these items - if they get to both of them - should be very interesting.  This meeting will also be televised and streamed live.

MEET THE MAYOR THURSDAY
Thursday is the first in what we are told will be a series of "Meet the Mayor" gatherings at which Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer will rub elbows with community members in a casual setting.  It's a chance for you to chat with the mayor about any item of concern you may have - streets, police, fire - whatever.  This one will be held at the Pitfire Artisan Pizza restaurant (site of former Marie Callendar's), 353 East 17th Street and will run from 6:00 - 7:30.  This should be interesting.

FIRST FRIDAY CAR SHOW
Finally, on since it's the first Friday of the month, it's time for the latest edition of the First Friday Car Show in the City Hall parking lot from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.  If you're a hot rod or other old car fan you may find this event of interest.  Dozens of classic and sometimes not-so-classic cars will be on hand for your viewing pleasure.  Food trucks are usually present so you can grab a snack while you meander among the old cars on a little trip down Memory Lane.

First Friday Fun

4-WHEELED NOSTALGIA
We hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine began at City Hall, of all places, on Friday evening with the latest iteration of the First Fridays Car Show, held in the front parking lot.

THIN TURNOUT
My understanding is that the turnout was a little lower than previously, probably because of the Battle of the Bell football game, which was held at Estancia High School at the same time.

PRIDE ON DISPLAY
There were many wonderful hot rods on display, with their owner/builders eager to explain every detail to interested parties.  Enjoy the photos.  Kudos to Mayor Eric Bever for conjuring up this idea and to Public Affairs Manager Dan Joyce for pulling it off.

Happy participants