Get Connected With Katrina Foley Tuesday Night

FOLEY HOSTS IMPORTANT DISCUSSIONS
Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley will host the next iteration of her "Get Connected" meetings in City Council Chambers at City Hall Tuesday evening, September 27, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.  On the agenda for this meeting are some very important hot button topics.

HATCH ON THE NEW LIBRARY
CEO Tom Hatch will provide an update on the Library/Lions Park Project that will build a new library at the site of the current Neighborhood Community Center and will convert the existing Donald Dungan Branch Library into a Community Center.

PANEL DISCUSSION ON REHAB/SOBER LIVING
Costa Mesa Police Chief Rob Sharpnack will be part of a panel that will discuss the Rehab/Sober Living Home situation that seems to be on everyone's mind these days and was a major focus of the CM4RG Town Hall last week.  See the flyer below for the names of that panel.

GOOD FORMAT FOR DISCUSSIONS
In the past this has been a casual affair, with lots of opportunities to ask questions and actually have them  answered.

Update On Sober Living Home Invasion

TBON HAS NEW INFORMATION
Our friends at Take Back Our Neighborhoods (TBON) have updated their information on the ongoing invasion of Costa Mesa by the sober living "industry" and the results are more than disappointing.

INFESTATION GROWING
Go to their website, HERE, for all the information.  Our city, which already accounts for something like 28% of all sober living/rehab homes in Orange County, has gained another 5 licensed facilities since the State report in November.

 

BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE MAP
When you get to the TBON page, review the information provided along the right margin, then click on the map to be taken to a zoomable/interactive map to get a better idea of just where these places are located in your neighborhoods.

THANKS...
Thanks to the folks at TBON and others who are tracking this data and making it available to us all.  This issue affects most Costa Mesa neighborhoods and it's not going to get better unless our elected officials continue to work diligently on this problem and enforce the laws they've enacted.  Keep reminding them of that.

Long Night - Loaded With Drama

LONG, ACTION-PACKED MEETING
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meeting "only" ran until 1:40 a.m. this morning, but it was certainly worth the wait.  What a night!  And, because it ran very long and I actually hope to get my head on my pillow before dawn, you're going to get an abbreviated report on this one.

CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS PULLED, AS EXPECTED
Because there were several hot button items on the agenda, the City Council Chambers had more than 100 people in it as the meeting began.  As anticipated, three items were pulled from the Consent Calendar for separate discussion - numbers 3, 4 and 5.  Wendy Leece pulled #3, the drainage easement in Fairview Park at Pacific Avenue and cautioned about the possible environmental impact.  Jay Humphrey and Cindy Black expressed their concerns, too.  City Engineer Fariba Faseli explained that this project just formalizes an existing drainage and the item passed on a 5-0 vote.

CONFUSION ON THE REPORT
Barrie Fisher pulled #4, the update from the Community Improvement Division, which should have been more accurately named.  It covers the history and current status of group homes in the city.  The discussion took about 35 minutes.  Community Improvement Division Assistant Director Jerry Guarancino explained the difficulty getting good information from The State and spoke about a trip he and other staffers made to Sacramento to specifically meet with the appropriate parties - and they still didn't get good information.  They explained their concerns about over-concentration of group homes in Costa Mesa and Orange County, but got no satisfaction.  We were left thinking that only pressure directly from the City to Sacramento MIGHT influence how many such facilities can open up here.... the numbers have increased dramatically in the past couple years.  The commission voted 5-0 to receive and file but expressed the hope that this information might be made available on the city web site soon.

DENSITY REPORT
#5, the Summary Matrix of High Density Residential Districts in Orange County Cities was pulled by Jay Humphrey.  It shows Costa Mesa's position relative to other cities and could be interpreted to reflect that we don't have as dense a designation than others.    Another 5-0 vote to receive and file.

APPEAL OF SOLID LANDINGS PERMIT
At 6:45 Public Hearing #1, the appeal of the Zoning Administrators approval of a minor conditional use permit on parking requirements for 657 W. 19th Street at a rehabilitation facility operated by Solid Landings, commenced.  Resident Ann Parker, who has her teeth firmly into the issue of rehab homes city-wide, had paid the fees to appeal this decision and made her presentation assisted by former councilwoman Wendy Leece and activist Teresa Drain, and they nailed it!

The discussion went far-afield of the actual issue, with the lawyer for Solid Landings attempting to smooth things over, but after a half dozen speakers addressed the issue and the discussion went back and forth among the commissioners, after nearly two and half hours the commission voted, 5-0, to grant the appeal. That means Solid Landings cannot operate counseling meetings at that site because they were NOT fulfilling the requirements to which they had agreed.  This may be appealed to the City Council.

ORANGE AVENUE DEVELOPMENT APPROVED QUICKLY
After a short break the commission took on Public Hearing #2, the two-unit small lot development at 1620 Orange Avenue.  This one only took about 15 minutes - the developer had tweaked the project since it was first heard a month ago -  and the commission passed it, 5-0.

MAISON NIXED
Next up was another of the BIG items on the agenda.  At 9:35 the commission began hearing #3, conditional use permit for additional requests for an existing bar/lounge at 719 W. 19th Street.  This is Roland Barrera's operation that used to be called the Lion's Den, but will now be known as Maison.  You will recall that Barrera began renovating this property and also presenting live music without a single permit of any kind - no business license, no building permits, no fire inspections - nothing, zip, nada!  When caught his place was red-tagged and he's been forbidden to do business until all the problems were addressed satisfactorily.  Barrera's interests were represented by Lisa Salisbury, who guided the presentation, supported by Barrera - who made a pitiful, pathetic attempt at an apology to the commission and the community for his transgressions earlier. It clearly was contrived and was not effective.  Architect Bill Mason gave an overview of the progress being made.

DENIED ON A 3-2 VOTE
Twenty-two people spoke to this issue, 5 of which supported it.  The remainder cited noise, smoke, wrong hours, precedent and more.  After a long discussion in which the pros and cons of giving the permit for live music or denying it, which would still allow recorded music and a disk jockey, the commission votes at 11:30 to deny it on a 3-2 vote.  Chairman Rob Dickson and Vice Chair Jeff Mathews voted NO.  I suspect we'll see this one appealed.

CHURCH FARMER'S MARKET
Finally, at 11:45, the commission began considering Public Hearing #4, the proposed Farmer's Market in the parking lot of St. John The Divine Episcopal Church at the corner of Bay Street and Orange on the Eastside of the city.  Commissioner Tim Sesler recused himself because it's his home church - and went home to bed.  This was another contentious item, with many people on both sides of the issue speaking out.  Several modifications had been made late in the day amending the original plan.  For example, no alcohol nor electronics or other non-food items will be sold at this Farmer's Market - only produce, locally grown. 

MIXED SUPPORT
The commission had received 26 letters - 14 for and 12 against - on this project.  29 people spoke to it - 9 against and the other 20 for it.  Concerns were expressed about food-borne diseases, traffic in the immediate neighborhood and the frequency of these events - every Saturday of the year.  Most of those in favor were members of the church and stressed what a great community-building opportunity this would be, and the convenience for shoppers in the neighborhood.

THIN APPROVAL
Pastor Phil DeVaul made the presentations and answered questions.  In the end - at 1:40 a.m. today - the commission voted 3-1 to approve the item, with new commissioner Stephan Andranian voting NO.  The approval made several modifications to the proposal, including a sunset clause that requires this conditional use permit be reviewed before it is renewed two years from the date of approval, which will be June of 2017, which should provide plenty of time to see if this is going to work.

Brough/Harper Co-author Rehab Home Bill

AB 838 INTRODUCED IN STATE ASSEMBLY
As mentioned by Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer at a recent Costa Mesa City Council meeting, Assemblymen William Brough of the 73rd District and Matthew Harper of the 74th District have co-authored a bill, AB 838, which will modify Section 1505 of the State Health And Safety Code relating to recovery houses.  You can read the bill and the Legislative Counsel's Digest HERE.

WHAT DOES IT DO?
I spent some time on Tuesday chatting with members of the staff of both assemblymen at their local field offices and in Sacramento, trying to get a clear picture of what this bill is supposed to accomplish.  I think the aforementioned Legislative Counsel's Digest provides you with a good, concise description.

TIGHTENS UP EXISTING LAW
Basically, it changes the California Community Care Facilities Act by adding a new section to the law to more tightly define certain group homes and, as a result, allow local jurisdictions to enforce the new laws - a misdemeanor.

ANOTHER TOOL
If passed, this would provide one more hammer in the tool box of cities like Costa Mesa - which, according to reports, has more than 25% of rehab homes in Orange County - with which to control the proliferation of such facilities.

RIGHEIMER TO LOBBY SACRAMENTO
It is our understanding, based on what Righeimer said at that council meeting, that he will be traveling to Sacramento early next month to talk with folks about this bill.  Right now the bill is in the Human Services sub-committee, but has not been scheduled to be heard yet.  We presume Righeimer will be attempting to influence other Assembly members to move forward with this bill.

Sparks Fly At Council Meeting

FOLEY AND RIGHEIMER SPAR
Well, it was a short, but memorable, meeting for the Costa Mesa City Council last night.  Sparks flew between Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Councilwoman Katrina Foley a couple times.  Righeimer took angry exception to Foley expressing curiousity about an issue brought up by a speaker in Public Comments - Righeimer's recent trip to Israel.  Righeimer said his personal vacation time was nobody's business.  She fired back that if he was functioning as a city official then it was in the public's interest to know if he had been traveling as part of a group allegedly sponsored by an organization described as a "hate group".  Interestingly, Brad Zint's Political Landscape piece in the Daily Pilot discussing that very issue, HERE, was published while the council was in Closed Session.  The next four years are going to be very interesting...

NEW COMMAND FOR THE 1/5 MARINES
The meeting began with the introduction of the new command staff of our adopted Marine group at Camp Pendleton - the 1/5 Marines.  Lt. Col. Mark Carleton, Sgt. Major Anthony Pappas and Lance Corporal Ashley Ramirez of Costa Mesa represented the group.  Mayor Steve Mensinger mused that he was a "Marine wannabe" during the presentation.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
During Public Comments an even dozen speakers rose beginning promptly at 6:00 p.m. and spoke on a variety of issues.

A woman representing Residents for Responsible Desalination in Huntington Beach - an anti-Poseidon group - told us of a town hall meeting in that city at Eader School, 9291 Banning Street (between Bushard and Magnolia) on Thursday, March 5th from 7-9 p.m. at which information will be presented about the proposed desalination project in that city.

Chuck Perry spoke about the medians on 17th Street and the city's
response to problems they were creating, plus he spoke about new curbs and sidewalks on Industrial Way.  He was also concerned about the skate park being unattended, and suggested we have a staffer at the site.

Beth Refakes complained about the scheduling of city meetings and other community outreach meetings, using the example of the meeting in Mesa Verde regarding a proposed development that was being held at that very time.  She asked for better communication between the City and other entities.  She also asked that the city consider holding the community budget workshop as has been done in the past.  She also wondered about the project for the terminus of the 55 Freeway and commented about the 1/5 Marine Command Staff.

Gay Royer talked about the Coffee With A Cop event that morning and the 1/5 Command Staff.  She also observed that we need to do more to help veterans.

Jay Humphrey reminded Mensinger and Righeimer that they promised to "pull out all the stops" to
improve the Police Department staffing situation, and wanted to know, specifically, what they had done.  He also complained about the meeting time conflicts.

Teresa Drain, once again, requested a forensic audit of the 60th Anniversary Celebration, and provided several examples of why one is necessary.

Mary Spadoni also spoke of the Coffee With A Cop event,
wondered about the sober living applicants - only 11 have turned in applications so far and wondered when something will be done for facilities in R-2 zoned areas.  She also complained that the CAD RMS system is not working and that the residents deserve to know the crime stats.

Debbie McGuire complained about living in fear in College Park due to increased numbers of transients and begged the council to do more to make us safe.

Gene Hutchins, once again, spoke of the unfunded pension liability issue.  A member of the Pension Oversight Committee, he told us very little can be done except reduce the budget through staffing cuts, raise taxes or file for bankruptcy.

Ann Parker said the honeymoon is over with the new council and she's ready for a divorce.
She expressed curiosity about Righeimer's Israel trip.  She also complained about the sober living homes and asked the council to "get it together and do something!"

James Bridges greeted Interim Police Chief Ron Lowenberg, with whom he apparently has a history dating back to their time in Huntington Beach.  He addressed pension spiking.  He complained that he had not been selected for city committees and observed that the council is doing what they do best - nothing.

Laurene Keane agreed about the forensic audit of the 60th Anniversary celebration; indicated that Irvine and Newport Beach are doing something about their pension situation and wondered why city staffers or council members had not attended a recent conference on sober living homes.  She also expressed concern, again, about the lack of an Economic Development Plan. She finished precisely at 6:30 p.m.

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS
Rookie Mayor Steve Mensinger began by asking CEO Tom Hatch to follow up on several items of concern to residents.  He thanked Refakes and others who are on the Military Affairs Team for their efforts on behalf of the 1/5 Marines.  He told us he and Hatch had spent four and a half hours at Lions Park observing the transient population recently.  Seems like a mighty long time to stand around observing homeless folks.  You can circumnavigate the entire park, counting as you go, in about five minutes.  Regarding the Pension issue, he observed - in another of his overstatements - that no other group in Orange County understands the problem better than the Pension Oversight Committee, but that we don't have the tools to fix it.  He told Bridges that he will look into him being shunned for committee appointments.  Really?

Katrina Foley had a long laundry list of issues to discuss.  She spoke of South Coast Plaza's Lunar

New Year celebration; TET Festival at the Fairground this weekend; suggested we get an update from Mesa Water about the Poseidon project;  Costa Mesa High School has a new Football Coach (her boys play football at CMHS).  She concurred with McGuire about safety due to aggressive transients, which she described as younger and scary.  She wanted an update on the CAD RMS situation and wondered when we would be able to get back to community policing, and hoped the new chief could help us with that.  She expressed concern about Prison Realignment.  She's meeting with Teresa Drain to go through "two large banker boxes" of information on the 60th Anniversary Celebration next week.  She asked Hatch to make the Economic Development Plan a priority and wondered about how the new developments around the city and their impact.  And, she told Perry that an attendant at the skate park would actually increase the City's liability problem.

Sandra Genis wondered about the Poseidon project, and observed that at one time it was scheduled to tear up a large chunk of the City for its pipeline.

Gary Monahan had nothing to say.... again.

Righeimer welcomed Lowenberg and complimented Captain Rob Sharpnack for stepping in as acting Chief.  Regarding Poseidon, he told us that nothing is coming to Costa Mesa from that project - nothing would be torn up because the water would be piped north instead of south.  He then launched into a long speech about pensions, complaining about CalPERS rates and, in response to a speaker's earlier observation about Newport Beach doing something, he referred to that city as "the 1% of the 1%", apparently implying that they could pay down some of that debt because it is a wealthy city.  He then reiterated that he was "not looking to pay one penny more than is required."  Please refer to Hutchins' observation, above. 

On the sober living issue he mentioned a community meeting at College Park Elementary School on March 4th, from 6-7:30, which he apparently will be attending.  I've seen the announcement for that meeting - Foley and Mensinger are also attending, as is a large entourage of city staff.  And, it conflicts with the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee meeting and Righeimer is council liaison for that group.  He ended his little rant by stating that his personal vacation is nobody's business.

CEO HATCH REPORT
Hatch observed that the budget study session scheduled for next Tuesday had been cancelled, stating that the issues they had planned to deal with would be handled another way - whatever that means.  He told us that there is a meeting of interested parties for the Library/Community Center at the Community Center at 6 p.m. on March 5th.  He welcomed Lowenberg and praised him for his body of work.  He told us the CAD RMS system is up and running, but has some problems to iron out.  It's interesting to note that although this issue has been brought up many times recently, we've never heard from Steve Ely, the man in charge of Information Technology on the subject.  He spoke of the homeless problem and told us that he and the senior staff held a meeting in the park recently for an hour and came up with some good ideas.  Apparently one of them was to remove the "wing panels" in the restrooms because people could hide behind them.  Geez!  That's right up there with spending tens of thousands of dollars to demolish the dining pavilion because homeless folks hung out there.  He told us we have a new park ranger and will have two rangers assigned to Lions Park for awhile.  He addressed the Economic Development Plan issue by praising the Chamber of Commerce, South Coast Plaza, The South Coast Alliance and the Convention and Visitor Bureau.

PD STAFFING
Regarding the Police Staffing issue, he referred to a draft copy of a 4-page document addressing it, which he will give to the council (but, apparently, not the public).  In a line that sounded like it came straight from the script of Kevin Costner's movie, The Postman, he said, "good news is happening every day." Well, that's just great!  Tell that to Debbie McGuire, who is petrified to live in her neighborhood!  Tell that to the Westside neighbors who are seeing gang activity increasing every day.   He said we have several officers in the academy, with graduation dates stretching from March to June.  He finished just after 7:00.

CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS PULLED
Four items were pulled from the Consent Calendar, #7, the Street Sweeping Contract, and #9, 10 and 11.

SENIOR COMMISSION INCREASED TO 7 MEMBERS
New Business #1, the request to increase the Senior Commission from 5 to 7 members got a little conversation.  Foley wanted to increase it to 9 members, but the council ended up voting unanimously to increase it to 7.

MENSINGER AND HATCH TO WASHINGTON NEXT MONTH
New Business #2 was the authorization to send Mensinger and Hatch to Washington, D.C. to a League of Cities conference from March 7-11.  The cost would be $2,500.  Discussions included the lack of clarity about the agenda for the conference and who was paying for it.  Mensinger said he didn't think the taxpayers should foot his bill, so he was paying for it himself, and he muttered something about having to "take vacation days" for the trip.  Geez!  Too bad, dude!  That's what you signed up for, for goodness sake!  In the end they approve the item unanimously, amended to include Mensinger reimbursing the city for his costs.  Personally, I think if the council agrees this is a worthy cause, then the city should pay for both Hatch and Mensinger to attend.

LEAGUE OF CITIES MEMBERSHIP
New Business #3, the reinstatement of our membership to the California League of Cities, took a lot more time to flesh out.  During the discussion Righeimer grilled Tony Cardenas, regional representative of the League of Cities, on many issues.  He questioned the effectiveness of their advocacy, flat-out stating that the organization was for big government.  Foley and Genis addressed the value of many facets of the membership, which will cost us nearly $26,000.  Mensinger told us he was luke warm to it initially, but has since decided he's for joining up.  Monahan said he'd go along with the Mayor because it's his call.  Eventually, nearly an hour later, it passed on a 4-1 vote, with Righeimer voting NO.

STREET SWEEPING OUTSOURCED
The discussion of Consent Calendar item #7, the outsourced Street Sweeping contract, drew more discussion than I expected.  During the conversation Director of Public Services Ernesto Munoz said the cost savings would be $3.5 million over the life of the contract.  Later Foley contradicted him, observing that it was more like $1.4 million for the first part of the contract, and that much of that was due to not having to purchase new machines.  Mensinger observed that we wouldn't be paying into pensions for the contractors, either.  Speaker Jay Humphrey pointed out that this decision was determined as a General Law City, not a Charter City, emphasizing that this kind of thing can be done with our present form of government.  Foley observed that the employees negotiated to do this outsourcing and Righeimer complained that "we had to give something."  Well, dude, that's what negotiating is supposed to be all about - give and take.  His idea of negotiation is all take, no give.  Eventually, the motion passed, 5-0.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS
The remaining three, #9, 10 and 11 - all street/road improvement projects -  were pulled by Humphrey to make a point about grant funding.  They all passed, 5-0.  The meeting ended at 8:30!  The next meeting is on March 3rd.

"Transparency" In "Rehab City"? Not So Much...

JUDGE RULES IN COSTA MESA'S FAVOR
Among the balls that got dropped here while I was out of town a couple weeks ago was the acknowledgment of a press release issued on January 23rd from The City of Costa Mesa regarding the dismissal of the group-home lawsuit.

DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE
According to the information provided, Federal Judge James V. Selna ruled that the City's ordinance, passed in October, does NOT discriminate against disabled people.  He said it provides a benefit by giving "individuals with disabilities an alternative housing option in [single-family, residential] zones that is not available to individuals without disabilities."  You can read the full press release HERE.

A GROWING PROBLEM
This rehab home issue has been a festering wound in our city for years, and has become even more pronounced since Newport Beach forced many operators from it's borders.  Those operators just moved across into Costa Mesa, with a vengeance, and set up shop all over town.

ACTIVISTS ANGER OPERATORS - AND STAFFERS, TOO
Activists - particularly a small, but energized, group of Eastside women - have stepped up to monitor group homes and to provide up-to-date information to the City on many of them.  By their count there may be as many as 400 such homes in Costa Mesa.  The City's number is much, much smaller.  And, as one might expect, that activism has rankled more than a few operators and, quite frankly, city staffers, too.  There are stories of group home managers running in front of these women in the street to take photos of their automobiles and their license plates.

A NEW RULE ENACTED
I just learned that a new rule has been put in place - although nobody except City staff knows about it yet, with one exception. That  "exception" is an activist who has never hesitated to ride the elevator in City Hall to the 5th floor, where the Community Improvement Division is domiciled, and chat with the Code Enforcement folks responsible for monitoring rehab homes in the City, to provide and receive information.

STIFLING SPEECH THROUGH INTIMIDATION
This particular person - a long-time resident with no axe to grind except to protect the quality of life in our residential neighborhoods from the growing infestation of group homes - speaks out frequently before the City Council and Planning Commission on this issue.  At a recent Planning Commission meeting, while she prepared a speaker card in the rear of the chambers, an official - a burly bear-of-a-man who is actually a contract employee, although he wears the mantle of city official - encountered her and challenged her about speaking.  He told her she shouldn't be speaking about an issue on the Consent Calendar because it was "a done deal".  This woman felt quite intimidated.  And, she was told flat out that she could no longer present herself to staff on the 5th floor.

IT APPLIES TO ANYONE, WE THINK...
Now we learn of the new rule which will require anyone wishing to speak with a member of the Community Improvement Division to first present themselves to the counter of the Development Services Department on the 2nd floor and ask to speak with someone on the 5th floor.  The reason given for this new rule is that, apparently, there is concern that sensitive, confidential information about people reporting code violations may be laying about on desks or be visible on computer screens on the 5th floor and that information may be compromised by unannounced visitors.  Also cited was the lack of a check-in desk on the 5th floor.  That sounds like a housekeeping issue to me.

MORE BUNKERIZATION
This is just one more example of the bunkerization of the 5th floor of City Hall.  That venue used to welcome ALL visitors, regardless of the reason for their visit.  Before the creation of the private security force that the 5th floor Code Enforcement group has become, there was never a concern about someone coming to visit that location.

TRANSPARENCY?  HA!
The City of Costa Mesa crows about Transparency, but, when the rubber meets the road, this kind of heavy-handed approach to "customers" - concerned residents who have information to share or questions to ask - is anything BUT transparent.

WHEN WILL WE BE TOLD?
I find myself wondering when the public in general will be made aware of this new rule?  At tomorrow's council meeting?  Seems like an appropriate topic for CEO Tom Hatch to present to the public.  Maybe some interested speaker will ask about it during Public Comments.  I guess we'll see.

MEANWHILE, MORE SANDBAGS...
In the meantime, another layer of sandbags just got stacked on the 5th Floor Bunker... very sad.