Big Night At Mesa Water Board Meeting

MUCH-DESERVED RECOGNITION
Thursday night was a big one for the Mesa Water District Board, and for those of us they serve.  Last night they received proclamations from numerous official bodies, congratulating them - and us - on exceeding the State-mandated 20% water savings.  The district managed to save more than 21%, thanks to the outstanding efforts of the organization for their practical solutions to the problem, their excellent public awareness campaign and to most of us who use their services.

MY APOLOGIES
I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos... I just took my Iphone to this meeting, not expecting to "cover" it.  The distance and lighting taxed it's capabilities, so I didn't get good shots of most of the participants.  The best image is provided by Mesa Water - the group shot below.

EARLY SCHMOOZE-FEST

It was interesting to watch the many politicians in the room mingle and schmooze.  Here's a photo of Mayor Steve Mensinger having his photo taken with Michele Steel.

PROCLAMATIONS
Board President Shawn Dewane accepted proclamations from State Senator John Moorlach (in absentia); Assemblyman Matt Harper - who showed up looking all dapper in his chapeau.  I thought for a moment he might break into a song and dance number; Supervisor Michele Steel; Director Bob Ooten from the Costa Mesa Sanitary District; Mayor Steve Mensinger representing the City of Costa Mesa; President Cathy Green from the Orange County Water District; a representative of Congressman Dana Rhorabacher and others I didn't catch.  The kudos were well-deserved.

PRESS RELEASES
Additionally, as covered in the Mesa Water press release, HERE, the district bestowed awards on ten (10) groups they identified as "Mega" Mesa Water Savers.  The City of Costa Mesa also produced a page on Costa Mesa Connected, HERE, describing the event and including many images.

SPECIAL "SEGERSTROM" MOMENT
There were many highlights of those presentations.  For example, when Justin McCusker, representing C.J. Segerstrom & Sons stepped up to receive their award Dewane almost waxed poetic as he described the monumental contributions made to water issues by the Segerstrom family, and Henry Segerstrom in particular.  It was a nice touch.

KUDOS TO THE CITY
The City of Costa Mesa also received an award for their efforts in conserving water.  It was a special moment when, among the many dignitaries receiving accolades, the representative chosen to accept the award was Lead Maintenance Worker Philip Willey, accompanied by his lovely daughter.  When I spoke today with Bruce Hartley, his boss, he told me Philip was chosen because he's the guy who gets it done.  He's the one who makes sure all the sophisticated watering devices around the city work as expected and that the madates are met.  This was a very special moment for me - seeing the value of the folks who actually do the work acknowledged for their efforts.  Good for Hartley!  And, during the photo ops Mensinger made sure we knew he was there.  Councilwoman Katrina Foley also attended the meeting.

YEP, WE GOT ONE, TOO
Oh, yes... my sweet and very patient wife and I received an award, too.  We were one of two single-family residences - the other being Janice & Steven Frates - to receive acknowledgement of significant water savings.  We're very proud of this acknowledgement.  We spent a lot of time and effort designing and installing our new front yard - replacing a lawn with drought-tolerant plants, each one individually irrigated with a drip system.  As you can see from the images below, the plants - just a year old this month - have not only survived, but thrived.  Only those two bougainvillea plants were original - all the rest are new plantings.  The Santa Barbara Daisies and Mexican Sage have just exploded, as have the Kangaroo Paws, the roses and all the rest.  We hope our efforts will encourage more of you to experiment with water saving landscaping choices.  You don't have to install as many plants as we did - it was our choice to provide a demonstration garden, to show you what can be done.  And, FYI, Mesa Water acknowledged that we've saved around 40% on our water consumption.  In actuality, comparing month-to-month to previous years when we were watering a lawn, the savings have varied from around 40% to nearly 60%.

THANKS TO DEWANE AND STAFF
Thanks to President  Shawn Dewane, Directors Jim Fisler, Jim Atkinson, Fred Bockmiller and Ethan Temianka, each of whom were very cordial.  Fisler, with whom I've had social media battles in the past until he blocked me, was especially friendly and it was much appreciated.  It was nice to catch up.  I also appreciated the plug Dewane gave the blog.  Although he didn't name it, we felt the love.  And, a special thank you to Stacy Taylor, Noelle Collins and the staff for creating a special moment for those of us who received this recognition.

KUDOS TO MESA WATER
And, kudos, one more time, to Mesa Water and General Manager Paul Schoenberger and his staff for the industry-leading creativity that provides this critical resource to us, especially at a time of severe drought.

Planning Commission Meeting Full Of No Surprises

SHORT, BUT NOT TOO SWEET
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting last night went just about as anticipated and lasted just a hair past three hours when Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick adjourned the meeting until December 8th.

VETERAN LEADS THE PLEDGE
The meeting was kicked off with a real treat on the eve of Veterans Day.  World War II veteran David Lester - a man who served with distinction in the United States Army and received multiple citations for valor, including the Bronze Star - stood to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

SIDEWALKS, BAD FORM, VETERANS AND GROUP HOMES
During Public Comments Shirley McDaniel asked for sidewalks along Anaheim Street;  Cindy Black stepped up to chastise Chairman Fitzpatrick and commissioners Tim Sesler and Colin McCarthy for their activities on social media; Mary Spadoni recognized Veterans Day and spoke of the festivities at the Fairgrounds Tuesday and Barry Fisher opined that the Group Home Ordinance needs to be expanded to include R-2 properties and complained that Dr. Phil was referring rehab patients to Costa Mesa.

2 ITEMS CONTINUED TO DECEMBER
Public Hearings #1 and #3 both were continued to the meeting on December 8th, as expected.

MANY CONCERNS ABOUT #2
Public Hearing #2, the 89 unit development in the 1600 block of Whittier Avenue on the far western border of the city that includes many so-called live/work units, began at 6:30 and ended with a 5-0 vote to approve it at 9:04 p.m.  In between a dozen residents spoke on the project, most of them against it, including Mesa Water Director Fred Bockmiller, shown here, who was on both of the citizen committees a decade ago that cobbled together the skeleton of the Westside Plans.  Among the complaints/concerns expressed by him and the others were the shade and shadow impact on the adjacent mobile home park; the practical usability of a 250 square foot "work" element of the live/work units; the validity of the traffic impacts provided by staff; the lack of low income housing; pollution and confusion for the elderly residents of the mobile home park during construction and the apparent lack of "green" elements.  Concerns were also expressed about the development not being "family friendly", citing lack of nearby shopping and schools and insufficient play areas for children.

LAMM - "DON'T BLAME US?"
It was no surprise at all that the commission passed this item.  Consultant Don Lamm - former Director of Development Services and Deputy City Manager for Costa Mesa - deftly parried each thrust by concerned residents, including dredging up the decade-old Westside Plan which has been the foundational document for many of these types of developments over the past couple years.  He basically said, "Hey, don't blame us - we're just building what you told us to build with these plans!"  He also suggested that, with the passage of time during which those plans laid dormant, the views of the populace may have changed since they were adopted by the then-Planning Commission and City Council.  He, of course, was running the Planning Department at the time.

TIME TO DUST THE PLANS OFF AND REVIEW
Later, during the lead-up to the vote, McCarthy agreed that the plans should be pulled up for formal discussion, to see if they still represent the views of the people now.  In the meantime, developments based on those plans are popping up like mushrooms all over the Westside.

WILL ELECTION CHANGE ATMOSPHERE?
It will be interesting to see if the pro-development atmosphere changes following the final tally on the election last week.  It is expected that we might have some final numbers by the end of this week in one of the closest races in recent memory. 


CLEARLY, NO MANDATE FOR RIGHEIMER
If Jim Righeimer fails to be returned to the City Council the whole dynamic of that group will change dramatically.  Even if he does defeat Jay Humphrey - who attended the meeting last night and spoke with concern about the project - it is very obvious that he does not have the overwhelming support he anticipated.  Quite the opposite.  His precarious position as I write these words - a slim 35 vote lead over Humphrey with many more votes to be counted - and the overwhelming defeat of Measure "O" -  another of his Charter schemes - by an even greater margin than two years ago, tells me that the voters DO NOT support his methods.  We'll see how that plays out over the next few days.

TICK, TICK, TICK...
In the meantime, we wait, and wait, and wait...

Don't Forget To Vote!

UNDER THE WHIP NOW...
Well, it's almost over.  All the lies, deceit, sign theft and the blizzard of stuff coming from your mailbox is just about over.  Twenty-four hours from now we should have a pretty good idea about how the election in Costa Mesa is going to turn out, although I don't really expect to see the final numbers until the weekend if previous elections are any indication.
 

I'LL POST UPDATES TOMORROW NIGHT
I plan to post the preliminary results tomorrow evening.. I'm not sure how many times I'll post - it depends on how interesting the results are.  The results will be certified by the City Clerk sometime over the next couple weeks and the winners of the City Council races will be seated at the council meeting on December 4th.  I've already gone over my choices, but this is a final reminder for you.

COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL
Vote for the Top 3 on the ballot - John Stephens, Harold Weitzberg and Sandra Genis
These three solid citizens each brings individual special skills to city government and have run an honest, clean campaigns unlike their 3M opponents, who have used lies and deceit to try to capture votes.  It's time to return honest, mature leadership to our city and to reject the Orange County Republican Party's attempt to turn it into some kind of a petri dish for social experimentation.

MEASURE V
Cast a NO vote for Jim Righeimer's Charter scheme - Measure V
This charter is ill-conceived by ONE man - Righeimer - to suit his own, personal political agenda and to curry favor with his OC GOP handlers.  IF Costa Mesa takes the leap as a Charter City, it shouldn't be with THIS charter and it shouldn't be now.  The attempt by Righeimer and his fellows on the council to rush this charter onto the ballot and their unwillingness to even consider improvements to it should make every voter apprehensive about their motives and VOTE NO!

MESA CONSOLIDATED WATER DISTRICT
Vote for Fred Bockmiller, Trudy Ohlig-Hall and Jim Fisler
Bockmiller and Hall have provided outstanding, mature, knowledgeable leadership to the MCWD for decades.  Their opponents - termed-out lame duck Mayor Eric Bever and Righeimer protege' Ethan Temianka - are part of a takeover plot to control and then combine both special districts.  They are marching to the tune of the OC GOP and should be soundly rejected.  Fisler should be chosen over Minuteman Dan Worthington.

COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
Vote for Art Perry and Jim Ferryman
Both Perry and Ferryman should be returned to their seats.  They've provided superior leadership to the district for decades.  Their challengers, Jeff R. Mathews and Don Harper, are part of that OC GOP plot to takeover the districts.  Mathews is an OC GOP insider who has bought his way to seats on the Parks and Recreation Commission and, most recently, onto the Planning Commission, replacing Jim Fitzpatrick.  They should be rejected.

74TH ASSEMBLY SEAT
Vote for Robert Rush
I covered my reasons for casting my vote for Bob Rush instead of Allan Mansoor and that decision was affirmed today when I saw an invitation from Mansoor to help work the neighborhoods in which he referred to Costa Mesa as "Ground Zero", echoing OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh and Jim Righeimer for the past couple years.  Lock-step lemming Mansoor lacks the skills to do the job.  Rush, a moderate who recently became a Democrat, on the other hand, has the formal training as a numbers guy and the background as a salesman.  Those skills are necessary to do the job in Sacramento. 

PLEASE VOTE!
Please vote tomorrow.  If you don't participate you give up your right to complain...

The Great Takeover - Part 2

TODAY, MESA CONSOLIDATED WATER DISTRICT
Yesterday I wrote about the races for the Costa Mesa Sanitary District seats, planning to cover the Mesa Consolidated Water District races, too.  However, that piece became too long, so here we are today to talk "water".

I GET NO VOTE, BUT...
This time around I have no vote for the seats available on the Mesa Consolidated Water District.  All the seats on the board are elected by district and mine is occupied by Shawn Dewane.  However, the three seats that ARE up this time around are VERY important to all of us because, depending on how the election goes, the result could mark a huge change in that organization and beyond.  This time around the seats held by long-time board member Trudy Ohlig-Hall (widow of former mayor Donn Hall), current president Fred Bockmiller and Jim Fisler are on the ballot.
 

PLAN TO COMBINE DISTRICTS
As I've mentioned many times, there are those running for both the Mesa seats and those on the Sanitary District - and those who are supporting them - who want to see those two special districts combined, then blended into the City of Costa Mesa government.  It's my understanding that the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) would be happy to see fewer special districts, but the combination of them requires support from both boards.
 

FISLER VS. WORTHINGTON
Jim "a realtor here in town"Fisler (I used to tease him about saying that all the time when he was on the Planning Commission) faces a challenge from long-time activist Minuteman Dan Worthington.  I refer to him as such because of his ill-advised journey down to the border a few years ago to hang out with the vigilantes on patrol.  It's unlikely that Dan will defeat Fisler.


OC GOP AFTER HALL'S SEAT
Trudy Ohlig-Hall is a legend in the water business, having served three terms as President of MCWD during her 25 years on the Board.  Her resume, HERE, is impressive and it would be hard to find a more effective, dedicated public servant.  She is being challenged by Jim Righeimer's protege', Ethan Temianka.  He is currently on the Parks and Recreation Commission and is very active in OC GOP circles.  He, and the party, are spending lots of dollars to elect Temianka to this board because his vote would be pivotal to the aforementioned consolidation effort.  He knows zip, zero, nada about water, except he probably swims in it and drinks some from time to time.  The OC GOP machine is pulling out all the stops to defeat Hall.

BOCKMILLER, BY FAR
Fred Bockmiller, current President of the MCWD Board after also having served in that role four previous times, is an Engineering Manager by profession and understands the technology of the water business.  Check out his resume', too.  He has provided solid leadership to an organization that is known far and wide for being on the cutting edge of technology and a producer of reliable, clean, inexpensive water.  He's being challenged by Costa Mesa's part-time, part-time, petulant, profane lame duck mayor, Eric Bever.  This challenge would be almost laughable if the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee had not turned it's back on Bockmiller and chose to endorse the eminently unqualified Bever for this spot.  It's all about politics and their grand plan and Bever may be the best (worst?) example of it.

HALL, BOCKMILLER AND FISLER
As I said, I don't get a vote this time around, but the choices seem pretty simple.  The only reason to consider Temianka and Bever is based purely on politics - they certainly don't have any qualifications for the job.  Quite honestly, I don't trust them with the water we drink.  It's that simple.  So, my recommendations are to go with the proven experience and leadership -  Trudy Ohlig-Hall, Fred Bockmiller and Jim Fisler.  Yeah, that's right... I support Fisler for re-election.