Great Turnout For Snoopy House Launch!

GRAND OPENING
The opening evening of the Costa Mesa Snoopy House event was a huge success, with several hundred people attending to enjoy great family fun - Snoopy, train rides, music, snow and Santa, too!  As always, photos are much better than words, so I'll just fill in the blanks for you.

 City CEO Tom Hatch kicked off the evening by welcoming the throng and giving much-deserved credit to members of his staff who put this event together.

 Mayor Steve Mensinger, Iphone tightly grasped in his hand, then introduced Jim and Linda Jordan, the long-time Costa Mesa residents who, for more than 40 years, had the Snoopy House display at their Eastside home over the Christmas holidays.  When it appeared that they would have to cease operations the City worked with them and, for the past five years, has presented this wonderful holiday experience on the front lawn of City Hall.

 The Jordans took a few minutes to welcome the crowd, and to thank the City and the staff for making this possible.

 Councilwoman Katrina Foley also thanked the crowd and reminded folks that there were booths around the grounds that support local school groups.

Councilwoman Sandra Genis, her two dogs in tow, also welcomed the crowd.

 After all the palaver the assembled folks on the stage gathered around the "wireless switch" and the countdown began to illuminate City Hall.  It was actually very cool.

 

Along  the walkway leading to the entrance to City Hall, er, Snoopy Hall, were Christmas Trees prepared by various city departments in a friendly little competition.

 This one is by the Public Services Department, complete with doggie waste bags as decorations and the very clever "Holly, Jolly, 'Fleas' Navidad" sign.

 This tree, by the Costa Mesa Fire Department, was full of fun, with Dalmatians climbing a ladder, dragging fire hose to a fire.

This tree, by the Costa Mesa Police Department, was very special.  Hanging on the tree among the other ornaments were two in memory of Dave Ketchum and Mike Libolt, two Costa Mesa police officers who lost their lives, along with a civilian observer, Jeffrey Pollard, back in 1987 when they were involved in a mid-air collision with a Newport Beach helicopter.  I wrote about it a few years ago, HERE.  That event led to the creation of the A.B.L.E. Helicopter program, which has been abandoned by the current Costa Mesa administration.

The happy crowd wandered around the grounds, enjoying the displays that have been created and enhanced by the Jordan family over the years.

They were entertained by a youth band and chorus, too.

 

Among the most popular venues was the train rides.  Children squealed as they and their parents buzzed around the track.

 However, probably the most popular site was the "snow hill" - a new addition to the fun available at Snoopy House this year.  I suspect those who thought up this idea didn't expect there to be snowballs flying around the air, but that's what was happening and the kids were loving it.  Another load of snow is planned for December 19th, depending on the weather.

 And, adding to the flavor of the evening, every once in awhile snow began to fall over the snow hill.

Costa Mesa Television was on hand to record much of the fun.  You'll be able to view the festivities on the City web site and on CMTV soon.  Here Brad Long captures some of the fun moments as Jim Jordan looks on.

And, as you might expect, more than a few local dignitaries were on hand last night.  Here Orange County Fair Board member Stan Tkaczyk and his wife, journalist Barbara Venezia (along with their dog, Stasha) stopped for a photo.

NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 23RD
Snoopy House runs every night through December 23rd, from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. and good old Santa is expected to make an appearance each evening from 7-9 p.m.  Last year more than 80,000 people attended this fun event.  Try to carve out some time from your busy holiday schedule for a visit before Christmas.   Smiles are guaranteed!

OCC Information Meeting Not So Informative

 DR. HARKINS TOOK THE LEAD
Thursday evening Orange Coast College President Dr. Dennis Harkins and his staff held an informational meeting on campus to attempt to bring interested parties up to speed on the progress of the planned more than $600 million expansion as presented in their original plan, Vision 2020, HERE, and now being fleshed out in preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

FAIR REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
There were around 50 people in the room, including OCC staffers and members of the Orange County Fair and Event Center Board.  New OCFEC CEO Kathy Kramer, former interim CEO Doug Lofstrom and board member Stan Tkaczyk sat off to the side, observing and participating when asked.  Costa Mesa Councilwoman Sandra Genis attended and lent her expertise as a land planner and EIR expert.  Coast Community College District Trustee Mary Hornbuckle and former Costa Mesa Councilman Jay Humphrey were among us in the small crowd.

  MEDIA, TOO
The real media was represented by Nicole Shine of the Daily Pilot and Jordan Graham of the Orange County Register.

PROCESS DELAYED BY COMPLICATIONS
Harkins kicked off this third community meeting - the previous two were held last summer - by telling the assembled group that he had expected to be finished with this process by now and had hoped to have the completed EIR and his staff recommendations to the Coast Community College District Trustees by now, but there were complications, including the identification of certain historical buildings that may occupy up to 40 acres of the 160 acre campus site.  That may cause a change in plans.  He explained that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires significant study of projects such as the one proposed.

SOME OF THE ISSUES
Rich Pagel then took over for a short time and outlined some of the issues brought up at previous meetings and by correspondence from the community which are now being studied in depth:

• Traffic Problems - A consultant has been hired and a report is due in mid-March
• Parking Structure - There is an issue with an $8 million pedestrian bridge proposed by the City of Costa Mesa, which includes complications with Edison power lines.
• State Funding - No statewide funding measures were on the November ballot - a rarity, and one that complicates the fulfillment of this project.
• Historic Buildings - Certain buildings on campus - those designed by Master Architect Richard Neutra -  have been identified as having historical significance.  They may take up a quarter of the campus footprint, which will cause some serious re-thinking of the plan.
• The OCC Village - A consultant has been retained to assist with this segment of the plan.

LOOKING FOR AN APRIL DATE
Pagel told us that the studies are on-going and it is hoped to get the CEQA document to the Board of Trustees by April.  That will be preceded by yet another community meeting at which time many questions will have been answered and more community input will be gathered.

TWO "SHOVEL READY" PROJECTS
Harkins then took back the microphone and expanded on some of the issues.  He told us that there are two projects virtually "shovel ready".  Those are the expansion of the Recycling Center - the last remaining such facility in the City - and a new Planetarium.

LOTS OF QUESTIONS, NOT ENOUGH ANSWERS
He then fielded questions, but many of those were unfulfilled.  We were told this was not a CEQA meeting, and that that process is ongoing so many of the questions could not yet be answered.  A good deal of frustration was expressed by many attendees, as they attempted to pin down Harkins and the staff on issues important to them.

HORNBUCKLE CALMS THE CROWD
At one point Hornbuckle made her way to the front of the room, took the microphone and calmed things down.  In her own special way she explained the process and that this is a very long range plan so it's taking time to get it right.  She emphasized that what we see in the plan now may not be the final version.  As the CEQA document is completed and the staff assesses the information it's likely that some elements currently in the plan will be either modified significantly or dropped altogether.

STUDENT INPUT, TOO
There was a point where the issue of student input was brought up, at which time Lisa Meyer - who identified herself as a student and a "regional delegate" - stepped up to explain her views on things like the proposed 145 room hotel on the plan.  She explained that it would be used as a training ground as part of the renowned Hospitality program, with students learning by doing.  Although Harkins, Hornbuckle and the staff seemed uneasy with her stepping up to speak - citing that she had not been "prepped" - Meyer did a fine job and received a round of applause from the crowd.

PROCESS CONTINUES
So, the upshot of this meeting was that not too much new was learned about this enormous project, particularly by those who had attended the previous meetings.  Several studies are currently underway which will, hopefully, provide some answers.  We learned that we get another shot at this issue in April, before the CEQA document is presented to the Board of Trustees.  In the meantime, Harkins and his staff encouraged members of the public to be in touch with them with their concerns/input.  At one point someone mentioned that 28 letters had been received by concerned individuals.  We now mark time until the April meeting.

Curious Timing Or PR Spinning At The Fairgrounds? (Amended)

BIG NEWS AT THE FAIRGROUNDS!
Tonight I write to you about a curious phenomenon that occurred in one of our local newspapers today.  After what seems like months of absence from the pages of the Daily Pilot - it's really only been a few weeks - all of a sudden today there are three (3) big news stories dealing with the Orange County Fair and Event Center online Tuesday night which will likely appear in print Wednesday.  Yes, I know there is almost always some little piece in the Daily Pilot about this or that event at the Fairgrounds - it's what they do across the street from City Hall, after all.  While informative, I'd have to describe most of those as benign.  Not so with the pieces that will appear today.  NOTE:  Before I was out of bed this morning former Fair Board President Dave Ellis signed in with a couple clarifications.  You can read them below in green italics.

LAST "NEWS" A MONTH AGO
The last "news" story about the Fairgrounds before today was an article on March 22nd describing the cessation of elephant rides during the annual Fair.  Before that was a story a month earlier about two new Fair Board members - Ashleigh Aitken and Stan Tkaczyk - being appointed by Governor Jerry Brown.  Today the Daily Pilot made up for lost time.  In no particular order, here are the three stories regarding the Fairgrounds that appear today.

ONE-SIDED CALCULATION OF VALUE
First, is a piece by Jon Cassidy - former Orange County Register reporter who now writes the occasional story for the Daily Pilot as a contractor - titled, "Fair collects little from Equestrian Center".  You can read it HERE.  It outlines the financial part of the equestrian activities at the Fairgrounds with a slant on the story that would lead one to believe there may be a move afoot to further reduce - or completely eliminate - the equestrian activities at the Fairgrounds.  In recent years the footprint of that activity has been reduced by 50% and it is widely known that former Fair Board president Dave Ellis was a main proponent of ousting the horse folks and paving over that area and using it as additional parking.  No mention is made in this particular article of the value to the community of the equestrian activities on the Fairgrounds property.  Nor is there any historical context of those activities - only raw numbers.  It seems one-sided. (Dave Ellis says,"in 2009 former Fair Board President Julie Vandermost led the effort to terminate the equestrian operation, not me.  It has never come to a vote so you do not know what my position is, or might be.  I think you might be listening to some folks that have a different agenda.  However, I do have a concern fair revenues subsidizing private clubs operating on public land.")

ATTORNEY GENERAL DROPS FAIR BOARD AS CLIENT - AGAIN
The second article appearing today is another piece by the recently-ubiquitous Cassidy titled, "Attorney general drops Fair Board as client."  The thrust of the story, which you can read HERE, is the fact that the State Attorney General has, once again, refused to represent the Fair Board in matters involving the lingering questions about the bogus sale scheme that occurred a couple years ago, citing conflict of interest concerns.  Again, the equestrian users are a centerpiece of this article.  And, again, this piece seems to have a distinctly pro-Fair Board slant.

WHERE DID HE GET THOSE NUMBERS?
The third article appearing today is columnist Steve Smith's little epistle titled, "Fair Board gets it right when helping foster kids."  You can read Smith's disjointed piece HERE.  OK, some of you will say the use of "disjointed" is a little harsh, but that's how I view it.  He begins with a supposed quote from Robert Kennedy, then follows up with a couple other unattributed numerical quotes, including his statement, "80% of complaints will come from 20% of the citizens."  I don't know where he got that one, but I suggest it's not even close.  I suspect that most of the complaints by citizens come from a very small percentage of the populace - maybe 5% or less.  I state that based on a decade of watching our local government in action and realizing that fewer than 50 people regularly speak up at public meetings - those people that actually pay attention to issues.

FOSTER FAMILY NIGHT AT THE FAIR
He then veers into the excellent program wherein the Fair Board provides a "foster family night" - an evening at the Fair before it's open to the public where foster families may attend and not have to deal with the rest of us.  It's a good program and, according to Smith, was previously paid for by private funds.  This year the Board hopes to attract 25,000 people to the event - nearly three times last year's number - and it will be funded by an additional dollar charged on tickets for shows at the Pacific Amphitheater.  (Dave Ellis says, "One more small detail in your Foster Family story.  Steve Smith posted this comment (below) to his story as a clarification on the funding of the event.  This is an important item … Joyce Tucker and I start raising the 150K in the next couple of weeks … I’d like to make it clear that the vast majority of the funds for the event will be from private sources.  The $1 per PacAmp ticket is designed to help if we fall short.  In the event of a surplus of funds the remainder will flow to a college scholarship program for foster children.

smi161 at 3:32 PM April 24, 2012

Readers, please note: Funding for the foster family night will include significant private donations in the range of $150,000. Any leftover funds will be used to establish a scholarship program for Orange County's foster children. SS")

TAX OR NOT?
He then gets into the "is that buck a tax?" issue, and whether people should be subjected to paying an additional tax.  He decides that, yes, we members of the public should fork over another buck to pay for this program.  According to him, "it's the least we can do".  Really?

DISMISSING CRITICS
Smith then brushes aside criticism of the program wherein some apparently have suggested this is another "deal" contrived by the Fair Board.  I don't know if it is or not - Smith cavalierly dismisses that thought - but it speaks volumes about how at least a few members of the public feel about the Fair Board.  They've learned not to trust them.

OPPOSING VIEWS FROM "MALCONTENTS"
In his final sentence Smith says, "One night at the fair is the least we can do to say thank you to these families through a small charge, even if the malcontent 20% believe otherwise."  I highlighted that word because it rings of a phrase planted by someone pushing the Fair Board view of anyone who dares to criticize them.

COINCIDENTAL TIMING OR PR CAMPAIGN?
My point here is that each of these articles have managed to appear all at once on the pages of our local newspaper of record and have just the slightest whiff of PR-flackery in them.  I'm not suggesting that Cassidy nor Smith are biased in their reporting, but none of the three articles seem to carry the kind of balance one might hope for.  Yeah, I know - Steve Smith is a "columnist" and, therefore, not required to be "fair and balanced" in his presentation of issues.  And, of course, he makes his living as a PR flack.

I LOVE THE SMELL OF PR SPIN IN THE MORNING
What I AM suggesting is that this kind of smells like the work of a good Public Relations person - someone hired to pump out "news" with a definite slant in favor of the Fair Board's views.  In my view, there's nothing wrong with that as long as the local media is not complicit in presenting only one side of the issue.  It's something to consider.

Fair Board Greets New Members

FIRST MEETING FOR NEWBIES
Today I attended the monthly meeting of the 32nd District Agriculture Association Board of Directors - the Fair Board - to see how things functioned with two new members. This was the first meeting by Governor Jerry Browns most recent appointees, lawyer Ashleigh Aitken and retired businessman Stan Tkaczyk. I wrote about their appointments in my earlier post.

NO ELLIS TODAY
In that post I speculated about the potential electricity between Tkaczyk and fellow board member Dave Ellis. Well, that will have to wait because Ellis and Kristina Dodge were absent from the meeting. It is "ski week" in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, after all, and they both have kids. So, that fun will have to wait.

READY AND EAGER
Both new members jumped right in, with Tkaczyk taking a major role in several of the discussions. It's clear that he's not going to be a passive board member. Aitken also made her presence known.



LEGAL SERVICES
The issue that got the most discussion, and has attracted the most "real media" attention was during the discussion of the possible extension of the legal services contract with the private law firm, Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, who has been providing all legal services for the Fair Board ever since the State Attorney General - then Jerry Brown - tossed them aside because there might have been a situation where the AG's office would have to prosecute members of the Board for their part in the bogus scheme to buy the fairgrounds three years ago. Soon-to-be-retired CEO Dr. Steve Beazley recommended that that private contract be continued. Tkaczyk and others chimed in and suggested that a letter be sent to the new Attorney General requesting that they resume providing legal services to the Fair Board - a state agency - and, in the interim, negotiate a flexible short-term contract with the current firm.

PARKING A BIG ISSUE
A significant amount of time was spent reviewing the current parking situation for the Fairgrounds. The Fair has grown dramatically in recent years and, as a result, so has the demand for parking spaces. The Board directed staff to contact the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to see what kind of an arrangement might be made for the use of nearby school parking during peak events.

GOOD CHOICES
It was an interesting meeting - one of the few I've attended in the middle of the day. It looked to me like the new additions to the board will both be a positive influence on discussions and decisions that are made by that body. Let's hope so. We've had enough drama with the old board to last a long, long time. And, of course, it's always fun watching Tkaczyk's wife, Barbara Venezia, working the crowd, as she was here with fellow Orange County Register reporters Jon Cassidy and Frank Mickadeit.

Fair Board Changes Guarantees Entertainment

MEDIA GUSHES ABOUT NEW FAIR BOARD MEMBERS
Over the past twenty-four hours the local media - print and electronic - have boiled over with the report that Governor Jerry Brown has made two new appointments to the 32nd Agricultural Association Board of Directors, commonly known in these parts as the Orange County Fair Board.


BALANCED APPOINTMENTS
The two new members are attorney Ashleigh Aitken, a 36-year-old Democrat from Anaheim and businessman Stan Tkaczyk, a 66-year-old Republican from Newport Beach. Aitken has a solid background in her profession and is the daughter of Uber-attorney Wylie Aitken. Tkaczyk is a retired president of Rainbow Disposal Company and is the husband of the irrepressible Orange County Register columnist, Barbara Venezia. I don't know Ms. Aitken, but Stan and Barbara are friends.

READ OTHER VIEWS
As I mentioned, local media outlets covered this story like a blanket. You can read Lauren Williams' Daily Pilot article HERE and Jon Cassidy's Orange County Register coverage HERE. In addition, you can read Vern Nelson's Orange Juice Blog almost apoplectic coverage HERE and Norberto Santana, Jr.'s coverage in the Voice of OC HERE. A note: Stan Tkaczyk is a member of the Voice of OC Board of Directors.

ANTICIPATING SPARKS
I, perhaps to a lesser extent than Nelson, almost salivate at the idea of Stan Tkaczyk sitting side-by-side with Dave Ellis on the Fair Board. I suspect the sparks between them might resemble some of those high school physics experiments some of us performed that shot sparks several inches and made us jump. Some will recall that Ellis, while the political advisor to current Assembly candidate Leslie Daigle in her Newport Beach City Council campaign against Venezia in the last decade, went beyond propriety and attacked Tkaczyk's business, which had been sold to its employees. Rather than subject those innocent workers to harassment, Venezia dropped out of the race. Memories of that event linger.

GOOD MOVE BY GOVERNOR BROWN
Personally, I think these two appointments will go a long way to producing solid, balanced decisions by this Fair Board. You can read the current roster HERE. The one-sidedness of the previous board led to mischief, much of which has been flogged at length by opponents of the bogus plan to sell-off the Fairgrounds that raised the community blood pressure for a couple years. I hope, however, that as other Fair Board terms expire, the governor will not permit the political pendulum to swing clear to the other side and only appoint liberals. The community is not well-served by a Fair Board that tilts extremely to either side.

THEY JOIN THE BOARD THURSDAY
Congratulations to both Ashleigh Aitken and Stan Tkaczyk on their appointment to the Fair Board. They will be officially welcomed to the Fair Board at its meeting Thursday, February 23rd at 10:00 at the Fair headquarters building. Tkaczyk got the jump today when he was sworn in by Judge Steve Bromberg - a former mayor of Newport Beach - in his court room. Barbara Venezia, in her own special way, was there to record the event as one of her "Barbara's Bits", and has permitted me to share that video clip with you.