The Current Adds Fuel To The Fire!(Amended)*

BLOCKBUSTER ARTICLES ABOUT THE CMPD
Today in The Current, the Orange County Register's supplement that serves Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, there is a series of articles by ace reporter Eric Hartley that will add fuel to the already out-of-control controversy about staffing of the Costa Mesa Police Department and the relationship between the department and top elected officials in the city.

*IF YOU SUBSCRIBE...
The article, which is tucked safely behind the Register's damnable pay wall, can be found HERE if you're a subscriber.  If you are NOT a subscriber, get up and go find a copy of The Current right now! *NOTE:  I found another link that works better, HERE, although all the stories kind run together.  At least you'll have a way to comment on it(them).  Grrrrr!

HEADLINES SAY IT ALL

To give you a flavor for the articles let me present to you the four headlines.  The cover story includes a big photo of Police Chief Tom Gazsi.  Here are the headlines of that story and the three companion pieces which take the entirety of page 3:

• Hiring is tough beat
• "Ghost town" experiences stress, delays with historic-low staffing
• Righeimer sees police talk of shortages as union ploy
• Department struggles to attract, retain best officers

That should give you an idea of the tone of the articles.

OFFICERS LEAVING...
The "Ghost town" article begins by profiling recently-departed officer Kelly Benjamin, who took a 23% pay cut to join a smaller police agency in Los Angeles County.  Benjamin is but one of the many officers who have left the Costa Mesa Police Department over the past couple of years.  I wrote about that at length last week, HERE.   Hartley writes, "Costa Mesa officers have long taken pride in a reputation as one of the best law enforcement agencies in Orange County.  Officers were well-trained and the department was always at the forefront of new tactics and technology, be it a search and rescue team or computers in cars.  Today officers and some residents say, the department is barely holding its head above water and providing 'minimum' service to residents."  Yep, that sounds about right.  Benjamin is one of three Costa Mesa Police Officers who left for that department.  All took pay cuts, longer commutes and pay more for their PERS account.

THE MAYOR SETS THE TONE
In the "Righeimer" article Hartley begins with this paragraph: "Ask Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer about problems in the ity Police Department, and he has a ready answer. 'Pure politics.'"  And it goes downhill from there.  Righeimer is later quoted as saying, "This is all about money.  It's all about pensions.  It's all about power."  And, of course, he discusses the circumstances surrounding the whole Lackie, Dammeier, McGill & Ether law firm, investigator Chris Lanzillo and the bogus lawsuit filed by Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger.

WHY?
In the "Department struggles" article quotes Gazsi extensively, and outlines the pure statistics of the recent staffing/attrition numbers.  He also quotes former president of the police association, Sergeant Ed Everett throughout the articles.  In this one Hartley asks Everett why there is a problem recruiting, to which he responds, "The problem is no one wants to come here."  Yikes!

He then quotes Gazsi, whom he describes as being more diplomatic, as saying, "I think it's because of the challenging political environment."  Yep.

A BLEAK FUTURE
When addressing the recent authorization by the City Council to add four more officers to the staff Hartley quotes Gazsi as saying, "That's a symbolic first step toward rebuilding the department."  Everett has the last word, though.  He says, "We're losing more people than we can bring in, unfortunately."  This morning I heard that at least five (5) more officers may be actively looking for new jobs.  The hemorrhaging continues!

GO FIND IT!
For any resident, or any other person interested in the safety and future of Costa Mesa, Eric Hartley's articles in The Current today are "must read" pieces.  I'm reluctant to give you more for fear of violating the copyright of the author.  Just get up from your chair and go find a news rack in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach and buy the darn Register for these articles!  Do it now!

"The Current" Launches Mon-Fri Print Product

DAY ONE FOR THE 5-DAY A WEEK CURRENT

The Current, the local edition that has been included with the Orange County Register on Fridays for subscribers in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, has now begun print publication five days a week - Monday through Friday - and today was the launch.  Unfortunately for me, my Register didn't include The Current today!  Arrgghh!  However, after one telephone call a copy magically appeared on my porch.  Now, that's customer service!  In the meantime, I'd snagged a copy from a local newspaper rack - an idea you should consider for this issue alone.

SUBSCRIBE!
As many of you know, because The Register now requires subscription to their online editions, some of you cannot see articles that I might link to here on this blog.  I encourage you to find a way to subscribe because new owner Aaron Kushner has spent a ton of money to revitalize his publication to the point that its really giving the Los Angeles Times a run for its money in Orange County.

COMPETITION FOR THE DAILY PILOT

 The Current, which will directly compete with The Daily Pilot in this market, has been gaining strength recently.  I suspect this is mainly due to the leadership of Editor Roger Bloom and his growing team.  The reporters who cover Costa Mesa and Newport Beach also work a broader geographical area and are doing a great job.

CURRY AND RIGHEIMER FACE OFF
Today The Current features a couple of commentaries by Costa Mesa Mayor Jim Righeimer and Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry.  If you're an online subscriber you can find it on page 7 of the E-version of The Current,  HERE.  The question asked of them was, "What can your city learn from your neighbor?".  The answers are telegraphed by the great image provided to The Register by artist Chris Morris, above.

CURRY
Curry uses his space to honestly compliment Costa Mesa for its shopping, diversity and arts venues.  He mentions that the two cities have exchanged some excellent employees, mentioning that Newport's community development director (Kim Brandt) came to them from Costa Mesa and that Costa Mesa's Police Chief (Tom Gazsi) and Interim Fire Chief (Tom Arnold) are both Newport Beach retirees.

He discusses Costa Mesas "financial mess" and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor's part in it, both during and following his tour as mayor in Costa Mesa.  He closes his message with the following paragraph:
"Both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are blessed with active, involved and passionate citizens.  In the end, it is the people who make each city unique and special. We learn the best lessons when we listen to them."

RIGHEIMER
Righeimer, for his part, uses the space provided to demonstrate his envy of Newport Beach and to, once again, use it as a platform to hype his plan for Costa Mesa to become a Charter City.

He opens his piece by telling us that as long as he's mayor of Costa Mesa he will never vote to raise dock fees or remove fire rings from the beach - clearly a backhand at our neighbors.  So much for a conciliatory message.

And, as a parting shot, his final paragraph reads as follows:
"Oh, and one more lesson learned from Newport Beach: I appreciate now, more than ever, our debt-free half-century-old City Hall."  Again, a backhand at Newport Beach for the dedication of their new Civic Center and Park.  Ah, our mayor - ever the class act.

GOOD LUCK TO THE CURRENT

So, welcome to The Current five days a week.  It's going to be very interesting to see how this move will impact The Daily Pilot - our newspaper of record for more than a century.  I think the competition will be great for both of them, and for the readers, too.

"The Current" Goes 5 Days A Week

IMPORTANT NEWS NEWS
For those of you here in the Newport-Mesa that already subscribe to the Orange County Register, this will be old news.  However, it's important, so I wanted to be sure you knew about it.  Unfortunately, those who don't subscribe 7 days a week won't be able to connect with the link I'm going to provide to you, so I'm forced to provide you with a paraphrased version if this information.

5-DAYS-A-WEEK SOON
So, The Current, which serves the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa on Fridays in print will begin providing a print product Monday through Friday each week beginning a week from today, May 6th.  The link to the announcement is HERE. 

SAMPLE COMING
According to Mary Ann Milbourn's April 25th article, "Non-subscribers will have a chance to sample the new Current for a five-day period late in May when the paper will be delivered to Newport Beach and Costa Mesa households with invitations to subscribe."

MORE IN-DEPTH COVERAGE
The article mentions the competition, The Daily Pilot, quotes Register owner and publisher Aaron Kushner - who has been pouring a lot of money into his print product since he bought the Register last July - and Rob Curley, deputy editor for local news, who indicted that the expanded, 20-page Current will reflect the community, providing more in-depth coverage of the issues and ideas that matter most in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

THEMED CONTENT AND TOM JOHNSON
Milbourn tells us that the "Current will have themed content on a regular basis covering small business, retail, fashion, tourism, technology and communications, heath and nonprofits, and columns by Tom Johnson.  The Register added 10 editorial positions to the staff to provide this expanded coverage."  Geez, we just can't seem to get rid of Tom!  Only teasing...

DAILY PILOT WELCOMES THE COMPETITION

I've spoken with Daily Pilot Editor John Canalis about this ramp-up of the competition and he told me he's looking forward to it.  He said healthy competition by a couple good news organizations will be good for the communities they serve.  I agree.  The Register, including The Current, is already cross-pollinated with former Daily Pilot and Los Angeles Times staffers and the friendly competition in the pursuit of the news is good for everyone - except, maybe, those who might be the subject of the news.  


OTHERWISE IT'S JUST "US"!

I hope this works out, otherwise, you all will be left to get the "news" from a bunch of old guys with too much time on our hands as we sit - to quote one of us - in our darkened rooms, in our underwear, with a single light bulb, wearing tin foil hats - you know, those of us who pretend we're actually journalists.  The closest any of us have gotten is one old grumpy guy who, during a short and undistinguished acting career, played a reporter (badly) for 19 seconds in a truly forgettable movie four decades ago.

LOOKING FORWARD TO IT
I'm looking forward to the expanded coverage in The Current.  This could be fun...

Tom Johnson Makes His Picks For Costa Mesa

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
For those of you who don't subscribe to the Orange County Register, or those of you who may have overlooked The Current in the Friday edition, tonight I'm going to provide a little help for you.

DAILY PILOT PUBLISHER
First, some history... Tom Johnson is the former publisher of the Daily Pilot - the competitor of the Orange County Register's The Current.  He left in a huff several years ago when the Daily Pilot's parent, The Los Angeles Times, and ITS parent, The Tribune Companies in Chicago, were going through some very tough financial times that resulted in bankruptcy of the Tribune.

NEW VENTURES
Johnson and Bill Lobdell, currently the Director of Communications for the City of Costa Mesa who had worked for Johnson at the Daily Pilot, began a new venture - The Daily Voice,  an online-only newspaper.  That didn't go well, Lobdell left and Johnson folded his paper into what is now the Newport Beach Independent, which he ran for several months.  He then left that operation.  Around a year ago he made an agreement with the Register to run The Current, and did so for many months.  Then he left and is an occasional contributor - like the articles today.

FULLY-IMMERSED COMMUNITY LEADER
Johnson, while at the Daily Pilot and ever since, has been deeply immersed in the Newport-Mesa community.  He's been on many boards and has been an extremely positive presence in our communities - a community leader in every sense of the word.  I say that because, even though he was very critical of me not too long ago, I still admire him and consider him a friend. Which leads us to his two articles in The Current today.

LINK TO THE CURRENT
First, click HERE.  After a couple seconds necessary for some software to open you'll be taken to an e-version of The Current, the weekly supplement for Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.  On the front page you'll find Tom Johnson's article titled, "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly... Costa Mesa politics" - and boy, did he get that right!  Double-click on that title and you'll get a text file of the article, in which you'll find his picks for the three seats available for the Costa Mesa City Council on November 6th.

FIRST CHOICE - NO SURPRISE
His first choice, Steve Mensinger, didn't really surprise me.  He's VERY tight with Mensinger through his association as a board member of Costa Mesa United.  It's amusing to me, though, that he says that Mensinger's "strength is being the "bull-in-china-shop."  I don't know about you, but that image - of uncontrolled chaos, mayhem and destruction of precious items - isn't really what I want in a person charged with the well-being of my city, although I concur with Johnson's assessment of Mensinger and his performance in city government since he was appointed to the City Council 22 months ago.  Still, Johnson's loyalty to Mensinger is not a surprise to me.

NOR IS HIS SECOND CHOICE, REALLY...
Johnson's second choice is Sandy Genis for her combination of experience and education.  I agree that Sandy should definitely be one of the three choices any of us make.

HOWEVER!
His third choice(s) will surprise practically everyone!  He made it a tie between John Stephens and Harold Weitzberg and suggests that the loser of those two spend some time on the Planning Commission before running again in two years.

REJECTS MC CARTHY AND MONAHAN
The stunner - he shunned two of the three M's - Colin McCarthy and Gary Monahan.  I'm not going to paraphrase him here - read the article.

HIS SECOND ARTICLE
Back to the front page, down at the end of Tom's article there's a link that says "See POLITICS page 13".  Click on that and you'll be taken to his second article Friday, "Perspective of Costa Mesa council candidates on local issues", in which he provides position statements attributed to each of the major candidates for Costa Mesa City Council seats.  Double-click the title and read the text box that appears.  Very interesting stuff.

TAKE THE TIME TO READ THESE...
I encourage each of you to spend a few minutes reading Johnson's articles.  He's a man with deep professional and emotional roots in our area who has been deeply immersed in Newport-Mesa organizations and issues for decades.  You don't have to agree with his choices - I don't, in the case of Mensinger - but his opinion and reasons are valuable to us all.

AND, WHILE YOU'RE THERE...
Back on page 1 you'll also find Barbara Venezia's latest column, "For Measure V, pick your boogeyman".  Double-click the title to read the text of her article, which provides a summary of her recent Feet To The Fire Charter Debate between Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and former councilwoman Katrina Foley.  Good reading all around.  And, if you want to view the debate on streaming video it's available HERE.  You can also watch it on CMTV, Channel 24 (Time Warner Cable) or Channel 99 (ATT U-verse) on this schedule from now until November 6th:

(click image to enlarge)

He's Baaack! Tom Johnson Takes Over "The Current"

TOM JOHNSON RETURNS
As announced in the Orange County Register yesterday, HERE, former Daily Pilot publisher Tom Johnson has reached an agreement with the Orange County Register to run the Newport-Mesa weekly publication, The Current.


GOOD NEWS FOR US
This is good news for those of us who read the Register regularly. The Current needed some serious freshening and Johnson's the man to do it. If you only read a local newspaper one day a week The Current might have met your needs. It has basically been a summary of news from the area over the past several days. Seldom did we see new content. In the article Johnson promises a new look and, we hope, fresher content.

THE FACE OF LOCAL NEWS
Tom Johnson has been a pillar of the Newport-Mesa community for decades. During his tenure as publisher of the Daily Pilot he was THE face of local news. As the Los Angeles Times - the Pilot's parent company - began to have financial difficulties in the last part of the last decade Johnson found himself at odds with the direction planned by the then-owners and left.

HE AND LOBDELL
He next surfaced in 2009 when he and former Daily Pilot Editor and current Costa Mesa Director of Communications, Bill Lobdell, launched a start-up online newspaper, The Newport-Mesa Daily Voice. That effort lasted a few months, then it folded up and the concept morphed into the Newport Beach Independent - a hybrid online/weekly publication. Costa Mesa coverage was abandoned. He left "The Indy" last year.

WISHING HIM WELL
We hope Tom Johnson is able to build The Current into a strong, locally-focused publication. With Daily Pilot resources spread thin and its recent expansion into Irvine, there seems to be a need for a tighter local news focus in our area. We look forward to watching this new enterprise evolve.