Not Much Happened While I Was Gone.. Yeah, Right!

MISS ME?
Well, didja miss me?  I missed you!  Well, kinda missed you...  Anyhow, I'm back...

AH, THE ROCKIES!
While my sweet, loving and VERY patient wife and I were enjoying a much-deserved and much-needed vacation for the past couple weeks - celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary and my birthday, too, I tried to keep track of what was happening back here in good old Costa Mesa using only marginally satisfactory technological tools.  Because of the distances we covered and the wide open spaces we saw, cell and internet service was sparse and spotty.  However, we did manage to carve out some time late at night using my trusty Iphone and my first generation hand-crank Ipad.  What I read made me VERY happy I was away, enjoying the magnificant Rocky Mountains along with tens of thousands of foreign tourists driving rental cars - not very well.  More on that later...

LOTS OF NEWS
I took some time to go back over the coverage of local events in the Daily Pilot for the two weeks we were away and learned that:

• The City of Costa Mesa will need to do a better job of protecting the vernal pools in Fairview Park, HERE
• The de-throned Costa Mesa Senior Center Board will remain active for a year, HERE
• Local politicians went berserk when CalTrans decided to ignore local cities and proceed with a toll road concept on the I-405 Freeway from Costa Mesa to the Los Angeles County line, HERE
• The Costa Mesa City Employees Association approved a new contract, HERE
• After spending loads of valuable staff time without approval or consultation with his fellow-council members, Gary Monahan failed to get a second to his scheme to put a Medical Marijuana Ordinance before the voters in November, HERE
• The Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee, which saw a record crowd at their meeting the first week of the month, decided to delay any decisions on the Southeast Quadrant of the Park, HERE
• After failing to receive the endorsement of the Costa Mesans For Responsible Governent, candidate Harold Weitzberg pulled out of the race for one of the two City Council seats, HERE, leaving eight (8) candidates in the race - too many, in my opinion.
• Wendy Leece decided to run for a seat on the Orange County Water District Board, HERE
• Katrina Foley received some powerful endorsements for her run for a council seat, HERE
• Congressman Dana Rohrabacher endorsed Jim Righeimer for city council, HERE, after giving a lukewarm endorsement for his employee, Tony Capitelli.
• Councilwoman Sandra Genis called the scheme proposed by Righeimer to place a toll-lane measure on the ballot political, HERE
• Costa Mesans For Responsible Government (CM4RG) held a General Plan fair before an overflow crowd, HERE

COMMENTARIES HOT AND HEAVY
And, if that was not enough news, politicians and their supporters stacked the Forum pages with commentaries on a variety of issues:

• Leece addressed the "miracles" on the Westside, HERE, and the Medical Marijuana issue, HERE
• Righeimer addressed the toll road scheme, HERE and the new labor agreement, HERE
• Allan Mansoor joined Righeimer condemning the toll road scheme, HERE
• Andy Smith told us the Charter would give us "Home Rule", HERE
• Terry Koken refuted Smith's assertions, HERE
• Tim Sesler told us the ballot argument about "cronyism" was false, HERE
• Fellow lawyer John Stephens defined and defended the "cronyism" label, HERE
• Brian Burnett told us developing Fairview Park is wrong, HERE
• Candidate Al Melone demonstrated his limited view of City government, HERE
• Assembly candidate Matt Harper told us he is the "dependable conservative", HERE
• His opponent, Keith Curry, chimed in on the toll roads, HERE
• Sue Lester opined that a thinner candidate field would serve the city better, HERE
• And Mary Ann O'Connell rebutted her position, HERE

 AND ROBIN DIED.....
All that and Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide while I was gone, HERE.