OCTA Board: It's Toll Lanes For The I-405!

COSTA MESA GETS SCREWED!
By now many of you who pay attention to this stuff may have read one of the many articles, like the one by Anthony Clark Carpio in the Daily Pilot, HERE, describing the decision by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board Monday to take the lead on the scheme to widen the I-405 and turn part of that taxpayer-funded roadway into a toll road.

A HOTLY-DEBATED ISSUE
As you know, this has been a hotly-debated issue for years, with many cities along the I-405 corridor between Costa Mesa and Seal Beach joining forces as the 405 Freeway Cities Coalition to attempt to see the widening of the highway to include only free lanes in addition to the one High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane.

A PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE
In the captioned article you'll find the curious deciding factor expressed by the President of the OCTA Board, Jeff Lalloway.  He is quoted as saying, "If we don't do it, Caltrans is going to do it.  And if Caltrans does it, no one's going to like it."  They apparently recognized that Caltrans has a gun to their heads, so they took what they hope will be a preemptive strike.  However,  Caltrans is still the BIG DOG, so I wonder just how the OCTA Board can feel comfortable that it may not come calling later - after all the heavy-lifting is done - and snatch excess toll revenues from the OCTA and the taxpayers who approved Measure M.

THE CHOICES
You may recall this chart, which shows all the alternatives considered.  The "preferred alternative" chosen by the coalition was Number 2.  What we're going to end up with is #3, which adds two lanes to the roadway each direction, one of which will be a toll lane, and converts the existing HOV lane into a toll lane, too.

ACCESS DENIED
One of the big sticking points is the fact that the corridor cities will be shut out of access to that traffic traveling on the toll road because there will be no off ramps to those cities.  If, for example, a person coming from San Juan Capistrano wants to shop at South Coast Plaza she will have to get off at Magnolia and come back to an off ramp from the non-toll lanes.  Remember when the 73 Toll Road was being hyped as "only 12 minutes from Capistrano to South Coast Plaza!"?  Well, that's over unless the existing off ramp at Bear Street is retained, and city traffic officials tell me that's not in the plan.  It makes me wonder where the Segerstrom family has been in this discussion?  Certainly, there have been no public utterances from them during the long years of debate on this issue.  It seems odd, since they have the potential to lose a lot of revenue from this plan.  Here's what Alternate #3 looks like.

FREE FOR THREE - REALLY?
According to the news reports, the current plan will provide free access to the toll lanes for cars with two or more passengers, but only for 3 years.  And, since it's likely that the toll collection apparatus will be automatic, reading your license plate and charging your account, how will that work, exactly?  Will the cameras across the roadway count the heads in the cars and NOT tally a toll?  Do we have the technology to recognize a sleeping child on the back seat.  Or even small children sitting in the third row of an SUV?  How's that going to work, exactly?

BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH?
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer, a major opponent of this scheme, is quoted as saying "If we can have two or more [passengers in a vehicle], that solves a lot of our issues"?  Really?  That was NEVER part of his dialog against the toll lanes in the past.  His pitch was lack of access to or from them, and that he'd have to back track to almost Newport Beach to enter the toll lane heading north or south.

FAIRVIEW BRIDGE - AGAIN
So, presuming this scheme now moves forward - you can read the timeline HERE, we will now see the destruction of our virtually brand new Fairview Road bridge over the I-405 - a project that cost millions  to complete less than 5 years ago - and the chaos and inconvenience to thousands of Costa Mesa commuters daily.  And, the widening project itself is going to cause major problems for Costa Mesa neighborhoods that back up to the right-of-way in the form of pile driving at all hours of the day and night and the interminable dust and dirt falling on them during construction.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BUCKS - YOUR BUCKS
It certainly appears that this is really all about the money.  If Caltrans controls the project it calls the shots as to where the tolls in excess of the building costs will be spent.  OCTA thinks it can keep those bucks here in Orange County.  Sadly, this seems to be less about moving traffic efficiently than about the cash to be collected by those in what former Mayor Eric Bever - a major outspoken opponent to the chosen alternative - referred to as the "Lexus Lanes".  I always thought that was a curious statement from a guy who drives an Audi.

The Righeimer Snowball Grows(Amended)*

LATEST STEP IN THE MEDIA BLITZ
Today at 11:00 a.m. Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer continued his march to emasculate the public employee unions when he held yet another press conference at City Hall.  The event drew members from most of the Los Angeles-based electronic media outlets - Channels 2/9, 4, 5 and 11 were all represented with film and stand-up staff.  Radio stations of note were also in attendance, as was the local print media, The Daily Pilot and the Orange County Register. 

IMPORTED SUPPORTERS
Righeimer brought with him a cadre of local politicians to augment his complaints against the "police unions", the guy who called 911, Chris Lanzillo,  and the law firm of Lackie, Dannmeier and McGill.  Those present were Buena Park Mayor Jim Dow, Buena Park councilman Fred Smith, Fullerton councilman Bruce Whitaker and Irvine councilman Jeffrey Lalloway.  His sidekick - and candidate for city council in November - Steve Mensinger was also in attendance - no surprise there.  Righeimer also apparently convinced his buddy, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, to attend and voice his views of the issue.  Righeimer said many other officials from throughout Southern California hoped to be there - he mentioned supervisors John Moorlach and Shawn Nelson specifically - but their schedules didn't permit it.

LANZILLO STATEMENT
A sidebar... shortly before the press conference the Daily Pilot posted an article about an interview they had with Lanzillo.  You can read it HERE.  During the press conference Channel 2/9 reporter Michele Gile read most of it verbatim and asked Righeimer to comment on it.
 
STAFFORD SERVES TWO MASTERS?
Righeimer mentioned that a current Costa Mesa police officer, Damian Stafford, was also an employee of the law firm associated with Lanzillo and, until late last week, represented the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association -  Lackie, Dammeier and McGill.  He handed out a biographical summary apparently extracted from the law firm's web site outlining Stafford's background and his association with the firm.  That document implied that he participated in negotiations that resulted in Costa Mesa Police Department being one of the highest paid police departments in Southern California.


BUENA PARK POLICE INTIMIDATION
The press conference, which lasted most of an hour, included stories from Dow and Smith that raise the hackles on the back of your neck.  Smith spoke of the harassment he's been receiving from members of HIS police department and later showed media members text messages with threats to him.

DOW MOVING TO SAFETY

Dow, who is termed out this year after a dozen years of service on the Buena Park City Council, told the assembled throng that he was in fear for the safety of his family based on threats from his police department that he moved them all out of state.  He went on to tell us that he had his home of 32 years on the market and will join his family at a location 1,500 miles away where they can live safely.

WHITAKER
Whitaker, whose city has had it's own police problems recently, was there to support Righeimer and to address their problems with the law firm.

LALLOWAY
Lalloway, who lives in the paradise called Irvine, is a Republican party faithful and was there to talk about Righeimer's difficulties.

MENSINGER CAMPAIGNING
Mensinger took this all-too-convenient opportunity to hype his "COIN" policy that was discussed at the last council meeting, explaining how it would resolve all the problems in the city.  He sounded VERY much like a guy on the campaign trail practicing his stump speech.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow night at the first candidate forum.

"DAPPER" DANA...
Rhorabacher, who apparently blew off the Republican National Convention to attend this important event, was a welcome participant as far as I was concerned.  Otherwise, I might have been the sloppiest dresser at the event.  Rhonda needs to take him shopping for a suit or at least a sport coat... soon.  He did make his presence felt, though, when he threatened to unleash the full power of the federal government to investigate the things discussed at the press conference.  He cited unfair labor practices and the intimidation of elected officials as a primary concern.

*MEDIA BLITZ CONTINUES
This press conference will be all over the media this evening.  On the way home I heard Righeimer live with Bill Carroll on KFI radio not 30 minutes after the press conference closed. 
 *NOTE:  Righeimer was on the John and Ken Show on KFI again in the 4:00 p.m. hour.  You can hear him - and their rants - again, HERE.  Righeimer had sent them the pay schedule for all Costa Mesa employees, so John and Ken, once again, went nuts!

DOW BEMOANS THE GOOD OLD DAYS...
One interesting sidebar.  Following the press conference I wandered around, listening to real reporters ask follow-up questions of several of the speakers, trying to fill in the blanks of my knowledge.  This meandering brought me to Buena Park Mayor Jim Dow, who was standing alone, leaning on the podium, just taking things in.  So, I stopped and we chatted about his circumstances, including those that caused him to relocate his family to southern Idaho.  We joked that northern Idaho is widely known as LAPD-north.  We spoke about his dozen years in office and how things have changed.  He brought up the Brown Act, indicating that he understood why it was enacted, but he bemoaned its negative impact on city government.  He said to me, "Yeah, I miss the good old days when you could just bribe a guy and get things done."  He wasn't kidding... I smiled, because that very simple, straightforward statement provided a new, and very relevant context to the issues at hand. Very shortly thereafter he was summoned by Righeimer who, I suspect, chastised him for speaking with me.

DEPUTY SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION REPRESENTED
It was also interesting to note that Kimberly Edds, former ace reporter and columnist for the Register and the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs since January, was also in the audience taking notes.  Her organization is NOT represented by the law firm at the center of this storm.  In fact, when the Register published the link to the now-infamous "Playbook" that Righeimer refers to all the time, her organization issued a scathing denouncement of those tactics and the law firm.  She was at this event to gather information.

CM4RG, TOO
Members of Costa Mesa For Responsible Government (CM4RG) were also in attendance, listening intently to the speeches and providing information to members of the news media.

IS HE JUST THIS LUCKY, OR?...
So, the beat goes on.  Several times over the past few days I've found myself thinking that, if all is as it appears to be in this situation, Righeimer may be the luckiest guy in Costa Mesa.  He's clearly the guy you want to be standing beside in a lightning storm.  I keep thinking that there is almost no way - almost - that you could actually orchestrate such a fortuitous event.  Apparently this thing will be turned over to the District Attorney Tony Rackaukas for investigation very soon.  This cannot happen soon enough.