Kinda Short And Not So Sweet

PUBERTY EXTENDED
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at City Hall last night for the council meeting an hour early only to find ex-Planning Commissioner and soon-to-be ex-Sanitary District Board member and new President of the Costa Mesa Taxpayers Association - the OC GOP shill organization in town - Jim Fitzpatrick, waist deep in political signs piled all over the porch beside the entrance to the auditorium.  Of course, those signs were for his pals, the 3Ms and others.  He got there early so he could purloin the site normally occupied by the folks from Costa Mesans For Responsible Government, CM4RG.  He pulled the same kind of juvenile stunt many months ago when he arrived very, very early to a council meeting so he could occupy the seat I usually use.  Some people just never outgrow puberty.

BEVER SHOWS - MEETING DRAGS
The meeting, which I thought might wrap up by 6:30 or 7:00 p.m, tops, dragged on until just before 8:00.  Part of the reason it took so long - with only one item on the agenda - was that our part-time, part-time mayor, Eric Bever finally decided to show up.  He didn't make for the roll call at the Closed Session, though. The best he can do now is to make it five for five as his tenure on the council - thank goodness - comes to an end.  There are four more meetings left this year - two in October and one each in November and December.  No matter what happens in the November election, our council dais will be Beverless beginning in January.

BEVER'S INFANTILE INTERRUPTIONS
Anyhow, Bever stretched the meeting out by continually interrupting speakers during Public Comments to add his two cents worth.  Not only is it inappropriate to interrupt a speaker int the middle of his or her presentation, but it's just plain rude.  I guess he just never learned courtesy when he was growing up.
 


FEENEY CHIDES WEITZBERG
During the Public Comments resident John Feeney included in his little presentation a criticism of council candidate Harold Weitzberg for his acknowledgment of "shouting down" a speaker before the council this spring.  Weitzberg then rose to defend himself, citing the person in question - imported charter shill Kevin Dayton - who had been given more than 10 minutes to speak while all other speakers were held to 3 minutes.

 WEITZBERG VS. "THE MOUTH"
As Weitzberg's time expired he returned to his seat but Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer - who had been in charge of that particular meeting and who allowed Dayton to exceed his time - just had to chime in with an explanation.  Weitzberg returned to rebut his comment and the next speaker waiting his turn - a grumpy old fella who lives in Mesa North - yelled across the room from the other speaker's podium at Weitzberg to "shut up and sit down!"  Things almost got REALLY nasty until councilwoman Wendy Leece demanded that the mayor take charge of the meeting.

KUDOS TO BEVER, BUT, WAIT A MINUTE...

A curious anomaly occurred last night.  Several council members praised Bever for his role in rallying officials from adjoining cities to fight off the onerous toll road scheme planned for the I-405 expansion.  Monday a major committee of the Orange County Transportation Commission Board voted unanimously to recommend Alternate #1 to the full board, which adds only one lane each way on the expansion project.

BEVER - "GOING FOR IT ALL"
However, during the Council Member Comments segment Bever said, basically, thanks, but no thanks.  He thanked his colleagues for their praise but said Alternate #1 was NOT what our city and the others voted to support - Alternate #2.  So, he said he will be "going for it all" when the full board meets to consider this issue on September 24th.  Uh-oh...


FABRICATING FACTS BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES
Righeimer, for his part, gave us another of his long-winded rants during the comments segment, and demonstrated again that he has a very difficult time sorting fact from fabrication.  For example, during his little fit of pique he again criticized previous councils for "blowing through $33 million in reserves" - conveniently forgetting that those councils had the foresight to accumulate those very reserves for emergencies - and said those councils refused to lay anyone off.  Of course, THAT IS A LIE!  The previous council, when the economy began it's free fall in 2008, took many measures to head off catastrophe, including inducing retirements and other measures that cut the headcount approximately 20%.  Of course, it's inconvenient for him to remember the truth because the truth doesn't work in his equation.

RIGHEIMER BLAMES THE COPS
And, in another master stroke of falsehood fabrication, in response to speaker Eleanor Egan's scolding of him and his peers on the dais for "destroying" her city, he told the audience quite directly that the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association is responsible for destroying the city!  The man has no shame!  

"ELECTIONS TEAM" FORMED
During his segment CEO Tom Hatch told the council and audience that an "Elections Team" had been formed in City Hall to deal with questions/problems during this election season.  The first order of business is the apparent removal/destruction/misplacement of campaign signs.  A summary of what is and is not permitted will be placed on the City web site and staff will be working to resolve any issues quickly.  

SRO PROGRAM?
In response to an earlier question, Hatch said he will meet soon with Police Chief Tom Gazsi to clarify the School Resource Officer issue and report back to the council.  Apparently he was not ready to get into a discussion of why officer Jess Gilman is back working as an SRO - trying to cover four schools, by the way - instead of remaining on patrol.
 

HATCH EFFUSIVELY GIVES LEECE HER 5-YEAR PIN
Hatch then presented councilwoman Wendy Leece with her five-year pin - she actually has six years in as a council member - and did so by heaping much praise on her for her dedication, hard work and tenacity.  He said nobody on the council works harder to help residents.  He also thanked her for helping HIM during his tenure with the city.  The comments were much deserved but probably cost Hatch points with the other four council members.

7-ELEVEN LIQUOR LICENSE
Several items were pulled from the Consent Calendar, one of which dealt with the item involving the 7-Eleven Store on Adams Avenue.  Once again, we had a lengthy discussion about liquor licenses in the city and how little control the city council actually has over this issue.  One speaker, former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bob Graham, asked if being a Charter City would resolve it.  The answer was NO.  Councilman Steve Mensinger told us he's "not a fan of 7 Eleven to start with..", without further explanation.  Perhaps it's because what was one of the great American success stories is now controlled by a Japanese holding company.  It just seemed like an odd statement coming from a council member about a company trying to expand its business in Costa Mesa.

RIGHEIMER OUT FOR BLOOD
Item 5on the Consent Calendar is an RFP for Roadway markings and Traffic Sign Maintenance.  It turns out this is actually a request for re-advertising this item, which apparently was incorrectly announced previously in what Hatch referred to as a "staff error."  Righeimer immediately pounced on that like a jackal on a carcass and said, "We have 400 people on staff.  Who did not do this correctly?"  Clearly, he was out for blood on this fairly minor issue.  Bever shut the door on him, but it demonstrates one more time his impatience on the dais and that he will praise staff members with one breath and castigate them with the next.

ELECTION DAY COUNCIL MEETING CANCELED
The final item discussed - and the only item on the agenda beyond the Consent Calendar - was the decision to cancel the November 6, 2012 City Council meeting due to the national election.  I suspect that staff recognized the reality of the situation - that several members of the City Council will be too busy either partying or crying that night to give city business a fair shot.  So, that meeting will be canceled.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOME BY 7!
This meeting could, and probably should, have ended an hour earlier.  It took more time because some council members just had to pontificate about pet issues and because Bever just had to interrupt the flow of events with his petty, insignificant and rude interruptions of speakers before the council.  C'mon January!

I-405 Open House/Public Hearing Wrap-up

MEETING WAS SUCCESSFUL
The "Open House" that was billed as a "Public Hearing" conducted at the Orange Coast College Student Center by the Orange County Transportation Authority last night was a rousing success.  Careful... I didn't say everyone liked what they heard, but as a communication device, I think it was successful.   

STANDING ROOM ONLY
The meeting played to an overflow house.  I'd estimate at least 250 interested parties showed up for what turned out to be a standing room-only event even though extra chairs were brought in.  As I looked around the room I saw at least 50 people standing in the back, listening intently.

PLENTY OF "LEADERS", TOO
In addition to interested residents there were plenty of politicians and staffers in the room, too.  Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and council members Steve Mensinger and Wendy Leece were there.  I saw Planning Commission Chairman Colin McCarthy, commissioner Sam Clark and former commissioner Jim Fitzpatrick, too.  I saw City CEO Tom Hatch sitting in the back of the room and Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz and Transportation Services Manager Raja Sethuraman were also in attendance.  Others may also have been there, but I didn't see them from my front row seat.

GOOD INFORMATION
The roughly 30 minute presentation, including a nearly 9 minute video clip, was moderated by Kevin Haboian from the Parsons Corporation.  The room was also full of OCTA and CalTRANS staffers, ready and eager to answer questions.  There were plenty of visual aids available to make it easy to understand most of the options being considered.  From my vantage point, both before and after the formal presentation, the posters showing Alternative #3 - the option that included High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes and the demolishing of the Fairview Bridge received the most attention.  You can visit the OCTA website, HERE, for more details and the video site, HERE, to access two (2) video clips that will be very informative.  The first provides a history of the need for this project.  The second, almost 9 minutes long, is the one we saw last night.  Both are worth viewing.
 
 "DIVIDE AND DIFFUSE" DIDN'T WORK
Following the formal presentation Haboian was all set to disperse the crowd to the 30 "experts" OCTA provided for up-close conversations when long time resident John Feeney jumped to his feet and demanded that they take and answer questions from the crowd.  The several others in the crowd responded to Feeney's demand, so Haboian took a deep breath and began fielding questions.  He did so for nearly 30 minutes before finally adjourning that segment of the meeting so folks could circulate around the room, view the displays and ask more specific questions.  I suspect Feeney was concerned that this meeting might turn out like the "informational meeting" the City sponsored on Jim Righeimer's Charter earlier this year, when Hatch refused to answer any questions and used the same tactic to disburse the crowd into smaller groups.  It didn't work this time.

FITZY SPITS OUT THE FIRST QUESTION
The first question out of the box was a belligerent question by former planning commissioner Jim Fitzpatrick who, from his standing position in the rear of the room, observed that the previous meeting (at the City study session a few weeks ago) didn't go very well and wondered what benefit Alternative #3 had for Costa Mesa.  The answer, in a nutshell, was basically nothing except to move traffic through our city on the I-405 faster.

ONLY THE "SWELLS" WILL BENEFIT...
Feeney opined that it would only benefit the "swells from Newport Beach", and that Costa Mesa would only get the construction inconvenience.  That was the tone for the next half hour, when more than 20 people stood to ask important questions.

 MORE MEETINGS SCHEDULED THIS WEEK AND NEXT
We learned a lot at the meeting last night.  For example, the chart above (click to enlarge) provides a graphic comparison of how the so-called experts project traffic moving based on each of the four alternatives - including the do-nothing choice.  A couple speakers challenged the assumptions on which that chart was based.  I think the folks from the OCTA learned a lot, too.  They learned that there are a lot of very angry folks here in Costa Mesa who won't simply roll over in this little drama.  I suspect more than a few will attend the next meetings on this subject, too.  The schedule for those meetings, each of which begins at 6:00 p.m. with the presentation at 6:30, followed by time for questions of the experts, is as follows:

Wednesday, June 6 at the Westminster Community Services Facility, 8200 Westminster Ave. in Westminster
 

Thursday, June 7 at Rush Park Auditorium, 3021 Blume Drive in Rossmoor
 

Thursday, June 14 at the Fountain Valley Senior Center, 17967 Bushard St. in Fountain Valley

 PROPERTY ACQUISITION?
One of the points emphasized by the folks from OCTA last night was that none of the alternatives presently proposed include any "full residence acquisitions", meaning they presently do not plan to throw anyone out of their homes for this project.  There was a good deal of tap-dancing when questions were asked about "partial residence acquisitions" and I later saw more than a few nervous residents sitting with "experts" at computers trying to figure just how close new sound walls would come to their properties if the Alternative #3 was chosen.

LANDSCAPING IS HISTORY
By the way, one reason given for NOT having to acquire properties for this project was because the landscaping alongside the freeway will be disposed of and that area will be used for roadway.  When asked about the loss of the sound-deadening affects of the landscaping, one of the experts shrugged it off, indicating that the landscaping was inconsequential as a sound-deadener.  Funny, that's not my personal experience, but then, what do I know?

 A CONCERNED PARENT
One young man, relatively new resident David Powers, expressed much concern since he had no clue about this project when he bought his home near the current freeway a couple years ago.  He was very concerned about the impact of this construction and proximity of a sound wall close to his home and how it will affect his young family.  It was only coincidence that he was sitting between OCTA CEO Will Kempton and OCTA board member Jerry Amante as he fired his questions at Haboian, with whom he later huddled, still searching for answers.

MITIGATION?
Mesa Consolidated Water District Board member Trudy Ohlig Hall stood up and asked what kind of mitigation the OCTA planned for those residents who suffered serious negative impacts from the construction and the new footprint of the project.  She didn't get an answer.
 
  WHY NOT #2, MODIFIED?
One portly older gentleman who had been busily scribbling notes in the front row asked why Alternative #2, which added two new General Purpose lanes, couldn't be modified to make that one General Purpose lane and one new HOV (carpool) lane, making a total of two (2) carpool lanes.  It seemed logical that two carpool lanes would move traffic faster than one.  I, er, he wasn't satisfied with the answer, so I, er, he sought clarification of "experts" later.  I, er, he got two different answers from two different "experts", so it's still not clear why that alternative, modified, wouldn't be a good compromise choice instead of Alternative #3 - nobody's favorite.

ALT.#2

ALTERNATIVE #3 IS DOA FOR THIS CROWD
It was clear from the mood of the crowd that virtually NOBODY in the room except the folks from the OCTA liked Alternative #3.  No matter how Haboian tried to massage it, the combination of noise, dust, congestion, the demolishing of the Fairview Bridge and the fact that very few Costa Mesans would benefit from the HOT lanes, doomed it as a viable option.

ALT. #3

MILESTONES

SEND COMMENTS TO:
The chart above shows the milestones for this project. (click on it to enlarge)  The Public meetings will end next week.  The OCTA invited comments - at the meeting as dictated to a court reporter - and by mail to:
Smita Deshpande
Branch Chief - Caltrans District 12
"Attn: 405 DEIR/DEIS Comment Period"
2201 Dupont Drive
Suite 200, Irvine, CA 92612

Or by email to Christina Byrne, Manager of Community Outreach, cbyrne@octa.net or reach her by telephone at 714-560-5717.  So, pick up the telephone, sit down at your computer or send a letter letting the folks at the OCTA know how you feel.  The clock is ticking...