Loss Of Affordable Housing Protested

VIEWING THE DEMONSTRATION
A funny thing happened on the way to the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting last night!  I stopped on the way to view the peaceful demonstration by members of the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition and other concerned residents to protest the planned demolition of the 236-room Costa Mesa Motor Inn and in its place erect a 224-room luxury apartment complex, which will result in the loss of some of the few remaining "homes" for very low or low income residents.

POLICE PRESENCE
I perched across the street from the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, arriving just before 5:00 p.m. - the announced start time of the demonstration - and saw a Costa Mesa Police car staged in the exit of the Home Depot shopping center, watching.  He left shortly after I arrived, heading north on Harbor Boulevard for parts unknown.

WATCHING THE GROWING GROUP
I parked in the parking lot adjacent to McDonald's nearby and leaned against a light pole on Harbor Boulevard and began observing the demonstrators as they formed-up across the street.  When I arrived there were already nearly 50 people - men, women and children - lined up along the curb, waving to the passing traffic and holding signs of all shapes and sizes.

BRAD ZINT ON THE SCENE
I noticed Daily Pilot reporter Bradley Zint arrive and begin to chat with folks.  In this image he's talking, or rather, listening to organizer Kathy Esfahani.  You can read his coverage of this event, including interviews with participants and tenants, HERE.  You'll see him in other images I took yesterday afternoon.

MANY FAMILIAR FACES
I spent approximately 30 minutes, standing, watching and photographing.  I think you'll get a flavor for the event as you scroll down through the images I've provided.  I saw many familiar faces - many folks who are concerned enough about civic affairs that they take time out of their busy lives to study issues, write to officials, speak at meetings, participate on committees, run for office and attend events like this one.  You'll probably recognize a few yourself.

WHAT EFFECT WILL THIS HAVE?
I found myself wondering just what effect this demonstration will have on the elected officials that will make the final decision on the future of the planned development on that site.  According to reports from the owner and some residents, things are much, much better now that the owner has instituted what amounts to a "lock down" condition at the Costa Mesa Motor Inn.  And, in theory, he's "taking care of" those residents who pay their rent and keep their rooms serviceable until they are eventually evicted before demolition of the building, sometime next spring or fall.  August was mentioned as the departure date.  He said he will return three months paid rent plus $1,500 dollars to tenants who stick it out until that date under the terms he prescribed.  That's hardly enough to find permanent housing in Costa Mesa, but it might be enough for a starting point elsewhere.

A PERFECT CHOICE
An interesting side note.  At the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, one of the items on the agenda is the request for permission to place a tree, bench and plaque in the memory of Frank P. Forbath, the long-time resident and activist for the downtrodden.  I couldn't help but notice that his widow, Jean, and their daughter, Kathy Esfahani, were among the demonstrators.  They chose to participate here rather than attend the meeting where a memorial to Frank was happening.  It seemed somehow perfectly correct and exactly what Frank would have preferred.  Spoiler alert - the memorial to Frank was approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission.

A SURPRISE ENCOUNTER
As the sun set behind the Costa Mesa Motor Inn and the, by now, around 100 demonstrators, and I was getting ready to depart for the meeting at City Hall, a young couple departing the shopping center behind me on foot stopped to ask me what was going on.  I told them about the demonstration and answered a couple of their questions.  As they left I asked where they were from, since they had the look of tourists.  They said "back east", which I found out meant north of Boston.  I asked where they were staying and was surprised when they told me the name of a sober living facility - and proudly admitted they were here because of heavy drug and alcohol use!  I wished them well and they walked on up the street.  Something's always happening in Costa Mesa....

The New Library Outreach Is Complete - Off To City Hall

FINAL MEETING LAST NIGHT
The final community outreach effort by the consultant architects and others working on the plan to improve library facilities at Lions Park is now complete.  I've written about previous meetings HERE and HERE.  Last night fewer than three dozen residents attended the final workshop to hear about the progress made so far and to provide input to the consultants as they prepare to offer their findings and recommendations to the Costa Mesa City Council sometime in July.

CONSULTANTS PROVIDED INFO
Recreation Manager Travis Karlen kicked off the evening right on time by introducing consultants Steve Johnson and Jim Favaro, who took over from there.

THE RECAP
Favaro gave a recap of the earlier meeting, reminding us why this project was launched - the shortage of library space - and spoke about the poor condition of the two existing buildings in question, the Neighborhood Community Center and the Donald Dungan Branch Library.  He also provided us with a timeline of progress so far.

 

ALTERNATIVES

Johnson took over and led the discussion about the alternatives - to renovate or rebuild each of the facilities.   He talked about the relative costs of each step, whether renovating or rebuilding, and provided a sequence of events that could be followed.  Each of the images below shows phases that could be taken.  

PHASE 1

In order, the first project - building the new 2-story library building adjacent to the existing NCC could happen and the entire process could stop there.

 PHASE 2
The next phase would be the rebuild/renovation of the existing Donald Dungan Library into a community meeting facility - and the process could stop there.

 PHASE 3
The third phase would be the completion of the parks/parking changes.

 COMPLETED PROJECT
All three projects, when completed, would cost over $34 million, building in factors for cost increases over the time period.

PARKING RESOLVED
Some significant assessment of the parking situation has been done.  The results, with the addition of 15 spaces near the Historical Society building and adding a few more spaces along Park Avenue, actually resulted in a net increase of 1 space over the current number.

THE COSTS
This chart shows the cost estimates to build/renovate each building/project.  The "Total Project Cost" includes the furniture, fixtures and technology infrastructure necessary to complete the projects.

 

THE VISION

These two images are artist renderings of a possible look to the new library building.  The first one is viewed from Park Avenue.

 This view is from approximately the location of the airplane at Lions Park.

 GODDARD CONCERNED ABOUT COMMUNITY WILL POWER
A dozen members of the public stepped up to the microphone to offer opinions or ask questions covering a wide range of issues.  Library supporter Art Goddard was the first to speak and he expressed concern about the anticipated cost of this project as viewed by the consultants.  He expressed concern that the community would lack the will power to move forward with such an expensive endeavor and looked to the consultants for ideas about a scaled-down project, utilizing the existing buildings.  He phrased it as "Option Zero" - where much less would be done and still improve our library situation.  The answer given was that the financial threshold was so low - $100,000 - and the change of use  from a meeting room to library was viewed by the government regulations as so significant that major changes to the building - the NCC - would be mandated.

CONCERN ABOUT CURRENT USERS LOSS OF SPACE
Resident Kathy Esfahani expressed concern about the loss of the use of the NCC by long-time user groups and was told that the City  had "granular data" on how the facility was used.  Earlier we were told that it was only used to about 1/3 capacity about 1/3 of the time.   Steve Johnson told us that the four major users of the NCC were consulted during their planning process.  We were also advised that the City had much more meeting space available around town that was being significantly under-utilized.  The plan would be to end up with about 8,000 square feet of meeting space between the two new proposed buildings.

BETH HAD A BUNDLE OF QUESTIONS
Uber-activist Beth Refakes - who attends more meetings than anyone else I know and takes great pains to make carefully-crafted observations, comments and suggestions, addressed several issues.  Speaking about the open space on the plans, she observed there had been moves afoot to use space in Lions Park as a skate park and/or sports field.  She wondered about the costs.  She observe that the proposed design was not compatible with other nearby buildings - citing The Triangle and The Courtyards, right across the street.  She opined that the relocation of the recently-refurbished airplane would be a bad idea.  Johnson agreed and that was off the table at this point.  She also observed about the NCC that she attends meetings there frequently and it's "always busy".  She also observed about the shortage of parking NOW, and that some of the nearby neighborhoods have resident-only parking.

MORE QUESTIONS
CEO Tom Hatch sat quietly in the audience with others, listening to the presentations and the questions.  He heard others ask about how long the project might take - two years was the answer, assuming certain mileposts could be met.  A question was asked about the budget - the financial target for this project - that was originally given to the consultants, because early conversations led us to believe it might be in the $5-7 million range.  The answer was that they were just working at the direction of their client - the City.  Others expressed concern about the building design - not meeting their personal preference.  A question was also asked about alternative sites being considered for the community meeting facility... none were.

HATCH COMMENTS

 At the end of the meeting Hatch wrapped it up by making several observations, some of which seemed relevant and others just seemed kind of off the wall.  He spoke of his gratitude to the members of the community who participated in this process.  He was surprised at the cost projections, which took him off into a kind of stream-of-consciousness exposition of capital projects and sales tax.  He explained that sales tax - primarily from South Coast Plaza and the car dealerships - account for 46% of the current budget revenue, and that it could be a capricious (my word) source if income.  He emphasized that we shouldn't plan on it always being there - and cited the economic downturn earlier in the past decade.  He mentioned that this budget will set aside 6.5% of the General Fund budget for Capital Improvements, then talked about the needed repairs and replacement of Fire Stations.  He said we set aside $1.6 million toward Fire Station #1, but that it would need $7-10 million to rebuild it.

FACILITIES CONDITION
He mentioned other city-owned facilities, indicating the Mesa Verde Branch Library had immediate needs, but that the Senior Center was  OK for now.  Then he said something peculiar - that "if the City Hall remained where it is, it would require another $5-10 million to make it work for another 50 years".  I found myself wondering where that thought came from?

BOND FUNDING?
He then found himself talking about the Victoria Street widening project that was funded by bonds that were still being paid off at the rate of $1.2 million a year for the next four years, and suggested perhaps a library could be built using similar funding mechanisms.  He seemed to be saying we could just plan on paying that $1.2 million downstream after the Victoria Street bonds were retired.  He talked about "front-loading" the cost as much as possible.

A HOMELESS DETERRENT?  HOW?
An observation... Once again, veiled comments were made by the consultants that the placement of a new library situated as they showed it could some how magically resolve the problem of the homeless folks who currently infest the park.  When I arrived at around 5:45 there were more than 40 people stretched out on the grass throughout the park area.  When I left at around 8:30 there were fewer, but not many fewer.  There seems to be a thought that having windows facing the airplane section of the park will somehow discourage homeless folks from hanging out there.  However, there has never been any kind of anecdotal evidence to that fact.  In fact, I'm told by those close to the situation that the opposite is true - that homeless folks near the Historical Society building actually "perform" for the "audience" in that building from time to time.  I found it distracting to the discussion of the other issues.

MARKING TIME UNTIL JULY...
The meeting ended with Karlen offering a tour of the Dungan Library building.  I didn't see if anyone took him up on it or not.  So, now we just wait to see what the consultants present to the City Council in a month or so.  It's hard to imagine that this meeting will not find itself in the budget discussions on Tuesday evening, when the 2015-2016 Fiscal Year Budget is approved.  We'll see.

Planning Commission Votes To "Zero-Out" Long-Term Stays

HOBBLING MOTEL OWNERS
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission, on a 4-0 vote, (Vice Chair Rob Dickson was absent) decided to pass the staff recommendation that will make it virtually impossible for Costa Mesa motel operators to house folks for long-term stays on to the City Council for further action/codification.  If the council passes this measure motels will no longer be able to use up to 25% of their rooms for long-term stays without a conditional use permit.  Unless they qualify, their allocation would be dropped to ZERO!

CRITERIA OUTLINED
The staff report, HERE, provides the details of their decision.  As I mentioned in my previous entry about this issue, in order for a motel operator to qualify for a conditional use permit for long-term stays at their establishment they must meet very specific criteria.  Those are:

1 - The motel must have a minimum of at least seventy-five (75) rooms.
2 - Fireproof safety deposit boxes must be available to all occupants of the motel.
3 - Each guest room shall be serviced daily with central maid, mail, and room services.
4 - Each room shall be a minimum of three hundred seventy-five (375) square feet.
5 - The motel shall maintain on-site laundry services.
6 - The proposed use is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, uses, zoning and general plan.

AN ADDED CONDITION
As they were about to take the vote they added one additional proviso - that there be some capability to prepare meals in units earmarked for long-term stays.  The staff will cobble together some verbiage for the presentation to the City Council - sometime next month.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE?
As that issue evolved Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick told his fellow-commissioners, the staff and the handful of folks in the audience that he thought it was important because he had gone through a situation where he spent some time in a motel and really needed cooking facilities.  One had the impression that his experience was recent...

COMPLY OR GET OUT!
Commissioner Colin McCarthy said this ordinance seemed quite rudimentary and was surprised there was any opposition to it at all.  He told us that if businesses don't want to follow these minimal standards to help folks who are down and out then, "I don't want them doing business in our city".

CORRESPONDENCE MISREPRESENTED
As part of the discussion Kathy Esfahani - a member of the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition - spoke to what she referred to as the misrepresentation of a letter from her on the subject written a year ago that formed part of the foundation of this move to oust long-term residents from motels.  To his credit, Fitzpatrick gave her much more than 3 minutes to present her views, then gave her a little more time to further clarify the issue.

MOTEL OPERATOR SPEAKS OUT
Among the speakers on this subject was Mike Lin, owner of the beleaguered Sandpiper Motel.  He opined that the fact there are people who NEED long term housing is not a result of actions the motel operators take - it's the result of actions those folks take.  His words fell on deaf ears.  The commission certainly appears to be completely unsympathetic with him on these issues.

WE NEED MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Former City Councilman and current council candidate Jay Humphrey told us that there are only two motels that might qualify now, then spoke on the need for affordable housing, and pointed out to the commissioners that NONE of the many projects they and the city council have approved recently had ANY affordable units included.  He implied that was very short-sighted of them.

TAMAR GETS IT RIGHT
Tamar Goldmann, as she spoke on this issue, may have captured that sentiment more precisely when she referred to it as a "let them eat cake" attitude.  Uh, huh...

TATTOO PARLOR APPROVED (BARELY)
The only other item on the agenda was the request by operator Eric Jones for another tattoo parlor in town, at 1145 Baker Street.  Surprisingly, this request got a luke warm reception.  McCarthy said he wouldn't vote for it at the planned location because it was across the street from a residential neighborhood.  The issue passed on a 3-1 vote, but you got the impression from the almost complete lack of enthusiasm for the business that it could easily have gone the other way.  McCarthy had made a motion to deny the request, but received no second to it.  So, those of you in the north part of town will soon have your own tattoo parlor for your inking pleasure.

UNNECESSARY POLITICIZING OF ISSUES
An interesting sidebar - McCarthy was the first to politicize this issue by mentioning the "silly season" is upon us - campaign season.  Then, during his little discussion, Tim Sesler mentioned Humphrey's presentation and referred to him as a council candidate - completely ignoring the fact that Humphrey is a regular attendee at most important city meetings and a regular presenter of facts and questions and offers solutions, too.  Indeed, the "silly season" is upon us.

SHE'S FINALLY HEARD!
Oh, yes... before I completely forget... the woman that Mayor Jim Righeimer stiff-armed at the last council meeting when he prohibited her from addressing the council during Public Comments - I'm sorry, I missed her name -  had another shot at it when she and her husband addressed the Planning Commission at the beginning of the meeting about the poor condition of their street in front of their home.  They complained about lack of responsiveness from City Staff.  Fitzpatrick jumped right on it - referred her to Bart Mejia who was standing in for Fariba Faseli in the meeting.  One had the impression this problem would be solved rapidly.  Too bad she had to wait another week to be heard.