A Little Fun Watching Our Neighbors...

NEWPORT CANDIDATES GET WARM FEET
Wednesday night four candidates for the Newport Beach City Council attended the most recent - the 10th iteration - of the Feet To The Fire Forum series, hosted by the effervescent Barbara Venezia, who shared the moderator duties with former Daily Pilot publisher and current President of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Tom Johnson.  They made a good team.

 HANNAH FRY DID ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING
I had planned to give you a blow-by-blow of this event, but Daily Pilot reporter Hannah Fry beat me to it!  She hot-footed it out of the Robert B. Moore Theater as soon as the forum ended and met her deadline.  Ah, the exuberance (and skill) of youth!  Not only was she quick, but she captured the essence of the event accurately.  You can read her excellent coverage of the event HERE.

A LITTLE SCHMOOZING AT 6:00
I arrived early and joined the schmooze-fest on the patio outside the entrance to the theater.  I found a small crowd gathered, including a few Costa Mesa residents offering lovely chilled water, cookies and some food for thought.

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES
I was introduced to three candidates for the Newport Unified School District Board of Trustees, Amy Peters, Michael Scharzmann and Leslie Bubb, shown here listening to my friend, Newport Beach resident and renowned architect, Gordon Glass.

BARBARA KICKED IT OFF
When the meeting began shortly after 7:00 p.m., Venezia made the opening comments to the small crowd - Fry estimated around 50 and that's probably pretty close - and introduced the participants, Jeff Herdman, Mike Glenn, Phil Greer and Fred Ameri.  As Fry mentioned, none of the Dave Ellis team showed up for this event.

MUTUAL RESPECT OBVIOUS
I'm not going to attempt to echo Fry's coverage, except to observe that the forum ran quite smoothly and all the candidates present seemed to actually respect and enjoy each other.  Venezia and Johnson had good chemistry between them, so the questions had a good flow to them.  And, each candidate was given plenty of time to answer.  Even though Herdman and Glenn are opposing each other for the District 5 seat and Greer and Ameri are opponents for the District 7 seat there seemed to be no rancor between them.  It was very refreshing.

THE ELLIS INFLUENCE
One thing not covered by Fry was the the discussion of consultant and political king-maker Dave Ellis' influence on local politics.  That thread popped up throughout the forum and it was clear that the candidates up on the stage were not happy at all with the influence he has had on Newport Beach politics, particularly following the last election where four of his candidates - "Team Newport" -  successfully captured seats on the council.

RECORDED FOR PLAYBACK LATER
This event was recorded by Newport Beach TV and will be broadcast within a week.  Radio Station KOCI-FM , 101.5 on your FM dial, will also include the audio of this event in its rotation soon.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THURSDAY'S EVENT
I came away from this meeting primed for the Costa Mesa Feet To The Fire Forum on Thursday night.  I expect the discussions might be a little more lively and, perhaps, a teeny bit less cordial, particularly if everyone who was invited shows up.  I do know that Lee Ramos was in the auditorium for this event, as was Councilwoman Katrina Foley.

SEE YOU THURSDAY
So, see you there Thursday evening.  Meet and greet the candidates beginning at 6:00 and the actual event begins promptly at 7:15.  The Newport Beach event ran long - a full 90 minutes - and it seemed about right.  Thanks to the Daily Pilot for underwriting this event, and to Doug Bennett and the OCC team for hosting it.  The venue was comfortable and will certainly accommodate a much larger crowd Thursday.  There's plenty of parking immediately adjacent to the theater at the Arlington Drive entrance to the OCC Campus.  I parked in Lot C, the lower right corner of the map below. 

OCC Planetarium Groundbreaking Tomorrow

NOON, THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016
Tomorrow at noon on the campus of Orange Coast College there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for their brand new Planetarium.  This special event is part of their Vision 2020 program for expansion and enhancement of many campus facilities. 

MORE INFORMATION
Read more about this amazing new facility HERE.  The attached flyer has the particulars.  The public is welcome.  A light lunch will be served.

Budget And OCC Meetings Scheduled Thursday Night

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
Two very important meetings are scheduled tomorrow, Thursday, and I'm not attending either one due to important family commitments.  However, that doesn't mean YOU shouldn't attend them and report back to me how things went!


6:00 P.M., ROOM 108, ADMIN. BLDG, OCC
Orange Coast College will hold yet another community outreach meeting to continue the discussion of their Vision 2020 expansion program.  This one involves the possibility of Student Housing on Campus and begins at 6:00 in Room 108 in the OCC Administration Building.  Here's the text of the most recent announcement of this meeting:

Reminder: Orange Coast College will be hosting a Community Meeting on Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m., in Room 108 of the OCC Administration Building to report on the feasibility studies the college has conducted in regards to the possibility of the construction of student housing on the campus. A representative of the consulting firm of Brailsford & Dunlavey will be at the meeting to provide an overview of the firm’s findings related to the feasibility of adding residential housing on the OCC campus.

The meeting will be in the OCC Administration Building at Fairview & Arlington. Free parking will be available in Lot B next to the OCC Admin. Building. If you have additional questions please contact Doug Bennett at (714) 432-5126.

EASY TO FIND - FREE PARKING
As you can see from the attached map, the Admin. building is immediately adjacent to Lot B at the Arlington Drive entrance.  Parking is free.  Click on the map to enlarge.

INFORMATIVE AND USEFUL
I've found these OCC meetings to be very informative and conducted in a very civilized manner.  The folks speaking typically are respectful of the questions asked and appear to do their best to provide answers.  Having attended several of them by this time, one thing is VERY clear - they DO LISTEN to the voices of their neighbors and other concerned residents.  That's very refreshing.  I hope you'll attend and participate.

BUDGET TIME
Simultaneously, across the street at City Hall, the staff will conduct a community meeting on the proposed 2015-2016 Municipal Budget.  You can find the entire nearly 400 page document HERE. 

CONFERENCE ROOM 1A
This meeting also begins at 6:00 p.m. and will be held in Conference Room 1A on the first floor of City Hall, immediately behind the City Clerk's office. 

CASUAL AND INFORMATIVE

In the past these meetings have been poorly attended, but have been quite valuable for those of us who did show up.  I suspect tomorrow's meeting will have a larger turnout than in years past.  The format has been more casual than, for example, a council study session.  Generally, the staff has been interested in hearing from the community on this subject before the council makes the final decision on this document the first meeting of June.

A FEW OF MY QUESTIONS
If I were to attend there area a few things I'd like to discuss.  Perhaps others might have the same questions.  Some of mine are:

1 - Why are we not budgeting money to expand Fire Station #4, which is pivotal to the full implementation of the deployment plan created by former Interim Chief Tom Arnold and modified by CEO Tom Hatch?

2 - On the same subject, why do we NOT cancel the contract with CARE Ambulance and begin transporting patients ourselves - and generating between $1-2 million in annual revenue for the city?  Could it be political?  Seems like a good question, since CARE has been a big campaign contributor and also contributes to events around the city.

3 - Why do we not require department heads to produce a more realistic staff requirement?   By over-projecting the needs it results in theoretical budgeted money saved by not filling positions, which is then used by the council as a piggy bank for their pet projects. 

4 - Why do we budget $4 million for the Library/Neighborhood Community Center project instead of putting at least part of that money toward more public safety staff?  Today we are nearly 30 positions short of our diminished Police Department authorized staffing level.  The Fire Department staff continues to be required to rack up horrible overtime hours because we do not adequately staff that organization.

5 - What kind of fiscal responsibility is it to have half our brand new fleet of Rescue Ambulances - at $250,000 a piece - sitting dormant?  This is directly related to the above items.  We cannot fully implement the Arnold plan.

6 - Why do we not purchase a new emergency generator - Capital Improvement Budget wish list line #93?  This is long, long, long overdue.

POTHOLES BEFORE PUBLIC SAFETY - WHY?
There are MANY other questions I have about the fiscal management of our city.  All are policy questions.  Things like what kind of a political character will put potholes before public safety?  Sure, the streets are nice, but our priorities are so screwed-up because of the hatred of the Police Department by a couple hack politicians that our city is NOT safe today.  No A.B.L.E.; A severely diminshed Gang Unit; No Narcotics Unit; A severely diminished Detective Bureau; 3/4 of our motorcycles sit unused; No K-9s, etc.  We cannot hire cops - new or Reserves -  fast enough to keep up with the hemorrhaging of officers retiring early and/or departing to other venues, including some of our most recent hires.  All this at a time when our streets are made significantly less safe by the increase of parolees and probationers in our community and the epidemic of sober living homes infesting our city.

OUR PRIORITY
So, attend the meeting.  Ask your own questions and listen to the answers.  I'm sorry I'll miss it, but we're getting our first chance to visit with our newest grand niece from Omaha, Miss Harper Hartte Cunningham, and we have our priorities in order. 

 

Community Outreach On Bicycling

GOOD TURNOUT

Wednesday night nearly four dozen interested parties snuggled into the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) adjacent to Police Headquarters for a presentation by City staff and consultants on the program currently underway to study how to make Costa Mesa more bicycle-friendly.  Specifically, how to navigate by bicycle across town.

RAJA KICKS OFF
Transportation Services Manager Raja Sethuraman kicked things off, then tossed the baton to John Holloway, a consultant from the firm BTU+A, who guided the discussion/presentation from that point forward. 

HOLLOWAY TAKES THE BALL
Holloway used a PowerPoint presentation that will soon be available for viewing on the City's website.  And, throughout the room were several posters with informational displays, some of which are shown here.  If you click on the images they may be easier to read.

GOALS

 

SOME CHOICES

INTERESTED ATTENDEES
Among the attendees were former councilman and recent candidate Jay Humphrey, former candidate Tony Capitelli, and current planning commissioner Stephan Andranian, an avid bicyclist himself.  There were many other familiar faces - folks who regularly attend and participate in the discussion in important meetings.

PROVIDE INPUT
Following the presentation the attendees were asked to participate in providing information by making notes on one of several large city maps available, and by making notes and affixing colored stickers to charts on the walls.  That information, and similar data gathered from the second of these meetings will be included in the final report prepared by the consultants.

FIRST SEGMENT
This meeting dealt with the first of two cross-town elements - from Placentia to Orange Coast College via Adams Avenue.  The second meeting will deal with the segment from OCC to the Back Bay.  No mention was made about the date of that meeting

 

PART 1

 

PLACENTIA

 

ADAMS

 

TANAGER/GOLF COURSE/MESA VERDE DRIVE EAST

 

MERRIMAC

OCC PIVOTAL
I think the information on the images from the charts is pretty self-explanatory.  It was clear from the discussion that OCC is a pivotal element in this plan.  Dean Abernathy, an instructor at OCC and most recently a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, told us that OCC staff is now working with City staff to coordinate their efforts, particularly as to how the OCC expansion plans currently underway might impact the results of this process.  He also told us that Costa Mesa has the highest bike use in the county, and that OCC's projected growth from 17,000 to 20,000 students in the near future - many of whom will likely be foreign students without automobiles, will jack up that use ratio significantly.

GOOD RESPONSE FROM ATTENDEES
From the discussions I overheard following the presentation and during the "notation" part of the meeting, it seems that most bicycle enthusiasts who attended felt this was a good step.  I'm looking forward to seeing the next step in the process, defined in one of the slides here - the next meeting.