Mayor's Celebration A Great Success

A GOOD EVENING
According to a just-published account by Bradley Zint in the Daily Pilot, HERE, the first annual Costa Mesa Mayor's Celebration was a huge success.

SECOND-HAND INFO
Since I did not attend - still wrestling with a nasty cold - I'll rely on Zint's account and anecdotal reports from the party for my information.

THANKS FOR SHARING
Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to share your observations with me.  One person, for example, sent me a note late last night saying "$125 for a meal and I'm still hungry."  I'm sure it was tongue-in-cheek.

MANY FAMILIAR FACES
Viewing the photos provided by Kevin Chang of the Daily Pilot in their article you'll see many familiar faces - lawyers, staffers, etc.

A HIGH-WATER MARK
One person I know who has been to a lot of events in Costa Mesa and other cities told me this morning that this was a high-water mark for our city.  That made me smile.

A WORTHY EVENT
No word yet on just how much money was raised for the recipients mentioned in Zint's piece.  It was a worthy cause, twice - once to honor Henry Segerstrom and Jack Hammett and also to provide financial support for The Arts in this, The City of the Arts.

KUDOS TO ALL
Congratulations to all who worked hard to make this a success and to Mayor Jim Righeimer for pushing his idea through.

Hikers, Flyers, Fish And Fund Raising

A COLLECTION OF INTERESTING ITEMS
Attempting to do some tidying-up here at The Cauldron, I offer you some snippets of current and fairly recent events.

ONE OF TWO LOST HIKERS FOUND
First, in the on-going saga of the two young Costa Mesa residents who became lost while hiking in the Trabuco Canyon area of the Cleveland National Forest on Easter Sunday, reports tonight are that one of them, Nicholas Cendoyo, has been found barely clothed and not very lucid and is being treated at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo tonight.  Hopefully, when he's able to, he can help searchers locate his hiking partner, Kyndall Jack.  You can read Lauren Williams' most recent version of this story HERE.

FORMER A.B.L.E PILOTS FLY SUPPORT
An interesting sidebar to this story is that several former members of the now-defunct A.B.L.E. helicopter program volunteered Wednesday to provide air support for the search operation.  Very generous Newport Beach businessman Peter Adderton - you may recall his name from his attempt to help save A.B.L.E. a couple years ago when the Costa Mesa City Council arbitrarily decided to shut it down - offered the use of his helicopter for this mission.  Former A.B.L.E. pilot Rob Dimel reports that his crew spent more than 3 hours in the air Wednesday in a support role and are ready to launch again tomorrow if needed.  Kudos to Adderton and the pilots for their spirit of volunteerism in support of our community.

60TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEETING

Today, Thursday, the 60th Anniversary Committee meets at 5:30 in the Costa Mesa Police Department Emergency Operations Center to discuss the progress being made for the various events that will make up the celebration.  You can read the agenda HERE.  The pubic is welcome to these meetings.

FISH FRY NEWS
On a semi-related note, last week Daily Pilot columnist Jim de Boom wrote in his column, HERE, about the generous contributions made by the Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club as a result of last year's very successful Fish Fry.  Lions Club President Mike Scheafer - who also heads up the 60th Anniversary Committee - announced that more than $28,000 was distributed to three dozen organizations in our community.  Kudos to the Lions Club for their efforts.  This year the 66th Annual Fish Fry will be held, again at Fairview Park, on the weekend of May 31 - June 2nd and will include the Community Run as one of the events for the first time.  You can read about it HERE.

MAYOR'S DINNER

Finally, the City of Costa Mesa, HERE, continues to pitch the up-coming Mayor's Dinner and encourages you to open your checkbooks and fork over $125 for a ticket - $5,000 for a table of ten.  We're told there are still some space available.  You can read more about it at the official website, HERE.  I don't want to put a damper on this event, but it seems to me that Mayor Righeimer is just trying to pretend he's in Newport Beach.  And, I'm sorry, but I can't stifle a smirk when I think of the theme of this event - "The Art Of Leadership".  Yeah, I know - the proceeds of the event will go to local arts programs for high schools and other worthy art organizations.  I know this is going to be a wonderful, very worthwhile event, but I sure hope they import someone to speak on the subject, because the past two years have demonstrated to me that our mayor has no clue.  Anyhow, pony up, get out your party clothes and have a good time.

Inaugural Mayor's Dinner Details

FIRST MAYOR'S DINNER
Today the City of Costa Mesa provided more information about the inaugural Mayor's Dinner that Mayor Jim Righeimer has been talking about for a few weeks.

 

RECEPTION, DINNER AND ENTERTAINMENT
This event, with the ironic theme "Costa Mesa Mayor's Celebration: The Art Of Leadership", will be held at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Samueli Theatre on April 25th and includes a hosted reception, dinner and a Beatles tribute show.  Two Costa Mesans will be honored that evening with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Mayor's Award.  Pre-dining entertainment will be provided by music students from Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools.

FUNDRAISER FOR LOCAL ARTS PROGRAMS
According to the press release, HERE, this event is presented by the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce and the South Coast Metro Alliance in collaboration with PBS SoCal.  Organizers hope to raise more than $30,000 for local arts programs: $10,000 each for the arts programs at Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools, and $5,000 for PBS SoCal and Segerstrom Center for the Arts educational programs.  They have a nifty web site available with plenty of important informtion, HERE.

A GREAT IDEA
Personally, I think this is a GREAT idea to demonstrate that Costa Mesa is a town where the leadership actually supports more than just high school football.  I looked at the participation opportunities on the web site and hope each of you will pony up for this great event.  Sorry, but you'll have to attend without me - my Levi's and Reyn-Spooner shirts would be just a little out of place.

HEY!  LOOK AT ME!
Those of you who think this is just another self-aggrandizement opportunity for Righeimer as he positions himself for higher office... well....