Monday, January 29, 2024

SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND

AN UNEXPECTED DEPARTURE

On Wednesday, January 12, 2024, my friend, Allen Klosowski, unexpectedly passed away of natural causes in his home in Newport Beach, about a mile from my home. On Saturday, January 27, 2024, a warm cloudless Southern California day, my Sweet Susie and I joined a small group of friends and family at his gravesite to send him on his final journey. 

THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY OF FRIENDSHIP
I have known Allen from the first day of kindergarten. He and I were classmates through elementary school, junior high school, high school, and a couple semesters of junior college. We were schoolmates, but not buddies.

SEPARATE PATHS
Our paths diverged as he went on to the University of Southern California and I went into the United States Army to fly helicopters.  They didn’t re-converge until a decade later, when we met up at a high school reunion. He had been our Senior Class President and, as such, he was charged with trying to round up classmates for reunions. We would talk infrequently - we each were going about leading our own lives. 

TRAGEDY RE-CONNECTED US

In 1986 his wife, Jeannie, passed away of lung cancer and her 3 children moved in with their father. From that time until a couple years ago Allen and I would meet for lunch once a week and chat about common interests - old school days, old friends and his beloved USC football teams.   Saturday I learned that he had regular, but less frequent, lunch meetings with other old chums and business associates. 

SELFLESS GENEROSITY
I also learned of his selfless philanthropy, both in terms of cash and as a mentor to many, particularly veterans. Several speakers at his gravesite told us about his generosity and encouragement, all of which made me even more proud of my friend.  For example, his long-time assistant, and now the executor of his estate, told us his thoughtfulness and professionalism as her boss and friend. 

We heard from the man who purchased his business and about how Allen continued to stay in touch with his old clients to smooth the transition. 

One of his USC fraternity brothers spoke of their fun times together and their continuing friendship.  

One young veteran, who had been considering the seminary, spoke about the mentoring he received from my friend which resulted in a return to college and a successful career as a Director of Employee Wellness at a resort. 

We learned of another veteran he sponsored at the USC Marshall School of Business and now works in clandestine activities for the US Government. And, we learned of his generosity to the USC Norris Cancer facility in Los Angeles that resulted in a wing of that facility being named for him and his late wife, Jeannie.   Allen was very humble about these activities. 

AND HE WAS STUBBORN, TOO
From conversations with those attending the service, and who later joined us at Allen’s home for refreshments, there were a couple common threads. One was his kindness and generosity, as mentioned above. The other was his stubbornness. To say that my friend was firm in his opinions, on almost any subject, would be a major understatement. Those observations had been presented with light-hearted admiration, not criticism. 

YOUTHFUL STORIES SHARED
Allen was a pretty typical kid in our youth. When I announced his passing to classmates I heard from a few of his close friends from those early days, sharing stories of escapades of their time together. He and I did not share a social life in high school - my focus was elsewhere - but he had a very active, fun time as a teenager. 

POLIO CHANGED HIS FOCUS

Allen contracted polio as a teenager and simply disappeared for awhile. When he returned to school he seemed to have a tighter focus on academics and service. I mentioned he was our class president, but that was only part of it. He participated in many service-oriented groups. That focus stayed with him all his life. 

A PROUD, GRATEFUL TROJAN
Allen was proud of his time at USC and as a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, where one of  his “brothers” was actor Tom Selleck.  He maintained a close relationship with some of those men, one of whom spoke today. He has been very generous to the school, trying to repay the opportunities it provided to him. 

EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL

Allen was a very successful businessman, operating a financial advisory practice for decades before selling it and retiring a few years ago. He wrote a book - Personal Financial Fitness, a practical guide to improve the health of your wealth - which is in it’s 5th edition. By helping others improve their financial health he earned a very good living, the proceeds of which he has generously shared over the years. 

WITH SOME UNHAPPY ELEMENTS, TOO

We also learned of the sad, inexplicable estrangement from his step-daughters for more than 3 decades.  They came to pay their respects to him.

REST IN PEACE, MY OLD FRIEND

So, Saturday we laid our kind, generous, stubborn friend to rest with his dear Jeannie. His positive impact on those in his life, and beyond to future generations, will endure. Rest in peace, my friend. 


Sunday, November 12, 2023

FAIRVIEW PARK MASTER PLAN MEETING


INTRO AND OBJECTIVES Last Wednesday, November 8, 2023, I attended a meeting at the Costa Mesa Senior Center to discuss the Fairview Park Master Plan.  Once again, the hosts optimistically anticipated a couple hundred attendees and, once again, we were disappointed as fewer than 60 people were in the room, and at least a third of those were City staffers or consultants.  Fewer than 20 of us spoke during the Q & A session.

THE DISCUSSION LEADERSThe meeting was kicked off by Jenni Zell of consultants MIG.  She handed it off to Fairview Park Administrator Kelly Dalton.  Then the bulk of the presentation was done by consultant Travis Brooks from Land IG, who was joined later by Robb Hamilton of Hamilton Biological.

THE PRESENTATION - The 90 minute presentation itself was outstanding.  Travis Brooks and Robb Hamilton did a good job of guiding us through the whole thing.  Each of us had a multi-page handout with 66 individual photos describing the history of the area, the topography, the progression of the site and showing many images of flora and fauna from the area.  It was very informative.  You can view the slideshow HERE.

Q&A Nineteen of us stepped to the microphones to ask questions and make comments and suggestions.  Some were knowledge-based and some were simply due to curiosity and concern.

SPEAKERS Here is my summary of a few of the speakers who stepped up...

Long time city activist and committee participant Bill Turpit led things off by opining about the apparent unwillingness of the City Council/staff to step up and pay the real cost of restoration/maintenance and protection of the more than 200 acre site.

Henry Smith, long time member of the Harbor Soaring Society, the group whose operations at Fairview Park are currently curtailed due to perceived negative impact on the plants and birds which are part of that area, stepped up and made a not-very-veiled threat to take political action against council members who continue to support their denial of space in the park.  That was inappropriate and disappointing.

Former councilman Jay Humphrey, who remains very involved in important city issues, addressed the impact of Measure AA, which severely constrains any activity in the Park.  He said things can happen as long as they specifically involve Restoration, Preservation or Maintenance.  Someone earlier mentioned grading, which he said is not permitted.  He also spoke of the creation of a plant nursery on, or near, the site, to provide replacement foliage.

Andy Campbell, Chair of the Fairview Park Steering Committee and a hydrologist by profession, spoke of mitigating the impact of the gliders, removal of the fill in the canyon area, the need to restore the vernal pool drainage and asked about the dormant Storm Drain Master Plan.  He spoke a second time later and asked about the State Grant from Senator Min and wondered how soon it must be spent or lost.

Cynthia D'Agosto, former Fairview Park Administrator and continuing activist, also addressed drainage and vernal pools.  She actually spoke twice.  The second time she addressed the "cultural resources" buried in the park and the approvals necessary to further investigate/protect them. She also commented that Fairview Park is not managed the same way as other city parks due to Measure AA.

Planning Commissioner Angely Andrade Vallarta, attending with her young daughter, thanked the moderators for the presentation and acknowledged the need to address the issues presented and described the Park as one of the City "Hot Topics".

"Kyle", who has been at many meetings lately, thanked the presenters for the historical perspective and bemoaned the small turnout, citing the need for better outreach.

"Paul", from the Banning Ranch Conservancy, also thanked the presenters for the historical perspective and said they supported the habitat restoration.  He cited the proximity to the Talbert Nature Preserve and the recently re-named Randall Preserve and said they would be VERY interested in the recommendations that come out of these meetings.

"Ben", in response to earlier comments about the bicyclers who used the dirt "jumps", suggested just moving them.  He also suggested making it harder for people to stray from the established, approved trails.

Flo Martin, long time city activist and proponent of walking and biking, asked about the number of Park Rangers assigned and in place in the Park on a daily basis.  Kelly Dalton had no numbers.  She also decried the threat by Henry Smith.

60-year resident John Rittenhouse, a member of the Harbor Soaring Society, attempted to defuse the anger about Henry Smith's earlier comment by inviting folks to the Park the 1st and 3rd Saturdays to enjoy the flying and learn about aviation.  He suggested we "stay the course before we judge".

Activist Cynthia McDonald, a self-described "pro-bike" person, expressed concern about the impact of bicycling within the Park.  She described her personal history with the creation of the Waldorf School (contiguous with the Park) and the evolution of parking spaces and drainage and the jeopardy the vernal pools had been in recently.

"Diane", a lady in the pink-trimmed hat, stepped up to suggest regularly-scheduled meetings/tours in the park to improve community awareness.

I was the final speaker and agreed with "Diane".  I spoke about the guided tour I joined in the spring during which we had a chance to see the full vernal pools in all their aquatic glory.  I suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that they would have made a great place for model boat racing.  Folks chuckled, nervously.  Scheduling similar tour days - perhaps quarterly - would go a very long way to educate the populace about the value of the Park.

TAKEAWAYS1-I was disappointed, again, at the few number of people who showed up for this very important meeting.  There were several senior staffers and I did see Planning Commission Chairman Adam Ereth in the room, but it was another meeting with fewer than 50 residents in attendance.  It was an exclamation point in the need for The City to figure out a way to cast a bigger net for these very important meetings. 2-I thought the consultants, all of them, did a very good job of presenting the program, although there seemed to be few answers to important questions asked by speakers. 3-There needs to be more of these kinds of meetings. 4-There is a need for more guided tours of the Park throughout the year.  You can follow along with the progress at the City website on this issue, HERE.

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Tuesday, November 07, 2023

FAIRVIEW DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER ZOOM MEETING

 ZOOMING ALONG WITH THE FDC

Monday night, November 6, 2023, Costa Mesa's consultants conducted the third meeting of this series, this time via Zoom, seeking resident input on the future of the Fairview Developmental Center (FDC).  The maximum number of participants in this event were 48, including 11 consultants plus Costa Mesa's Director of Economic and Development Service, Jennifer Le.  My best guess, based on the participation in the "break out" session, was that around 30 non-staff and consultant individuals took advantage of this event to provide input.  So, fewer than 100 people took part in the three meetings in this first series of discussions on the most significant housing opportunity for our city in a generation.


SAME CONSULTANTS, SAME FORMAT

Suzanne Schwab and Karen Gulley from the consultancy, Placeworks, led the discussion again.  And, Director Le was available to respond to questions again. After a brief overview of the project and a description of the road ahead, a short Question and Answer period was conducted, then we were divided into "break out" groups - small groups who discussed our thoughts with a consultant as a moderator.  That person made notes on a "white board", which was later reviewed by the whole group.  I've included screen grabs of those four white boards for your review.  We were asked to make notes and provide comments in the "chat" area of the Zoom format indicating our top 3-5 comments.  I've provided screen grabs of those, too.


READOUTS 

COMMENTS


NEXT?  ANOTHER SERIES OF MEETINGS IN FEBRUARY
The consultants will go about their business, consolidating the comments provided in the three meetings and will conduct another series of meetings early next year - probably February.  This process will take two years and will result in a report provided to the City Council in the fall of 2025.  Meanwhile, information will be regularly updated on the website, below.  Sign up for notifications at the site shown below, as well.


MY PREVIOUS POSTS
If you wish to revisit the things I've written recently on this issue, you can click on the following links, HERE, HERE, HERE AND HERE.


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Sunday, November 05, 2023

THE FUTURE OF THE FDC - THE RESIDENT'S CONCERNS

I MISSED THE POINT!

Good grief!  Late last night I finally posted my long, long, long screed about the meeting held Thursday night at the Costa Mesa Senior Center concerning the future of the Fairview Developmental Center (FDC) site. (HERE)  I blathered on and on and on about the consultant’s presentation, the small crowd (50), but completely neglected to talk about what those folks who took time out of their very busy lives to attend this meeting were concerned about.  Of course, that was the whole reason for the meeting!


IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

I’m going to attempt to present to you some of those concerns as expressed during the Q & A segment and as described in the individual table wrap-ups.  I won’t give you every comment and may not give you proper attribution to each because some folks didn’t identify themselves… here we go…


HELIPAD

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I expressed concern that, if a helipad is included in the scheme to carve out 15 acres for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), that would be a deal breaker because nobody will want to live adjacent to a helipad designed for large military-style choppers.


SONOMA SPECIFIC PLAN

Cynthia McDonald and her hubby, Rick Huffman, lugged with them the binder for the Sonoma Specific Plan.  This is, as they described it, a “sister” site to the FDC and, according to them, was done very well.


MIXED USE

Former Councilman Jay Humphrey was concerned about the mix of residential and business uses on the site.


TRAFFIC AND ACCESS

Several attendees expressed concern about the traffic generated by the new residential uses at the site.  They were concerned about ingress and egress and how our existing transportation infrastructure could handle the increase.


HARBOR VILLAGE

Some residents were concerned about the future of Harbor Village because of the proximity to this site.


HOW BIG IS THE ACTUAL SITE?

Concern was expressed about how much land would actually be left for residential development if the EOC is included.  The number seemed to be amorphous.


COMMUNICATION/NOTIFICATON

Several people expressed concern about the apparent lack of communication about this issue.  They said they had just heard about this meeting the day before.  The small turnout supports that concern.  One speaker expressed concern that there was no video record being made of this meeting, either by The City or private sources.


PLAYING FIELDS

One speaker expressed an opinion that part of this site should be used for dedicated Little League fields, citing that The City has only one field and must depend on the Joint Use Agreement with the Newport Mesa Unified School District for playing space.


WHO CONTROLS THE PROPERTY?

Concern was expressed about just who controls the property in the future.  And who pays for it?  Should the city underwrite the cost?


PUBLIC SAFETY

Concern was expressed for the ability of our Police and Fire organizations to properly protect this property when it’s built-out.


THE PROCESS

In a bit of irony, former mayor, Sandy Genis, brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to this meeting and, among other things, spoke about her concern for “the process”, stating she was hoping for a healthy exchange of ideas - which she said while engaging in a healthy exchange of ideas.  I smiled...


SHANNON’S MOUNTAIN

Former councilwoman Wendy Leece expressed concern for “Shannon’s Mountain”, the planning for which seems to have fallen by the wayside.


AFFORDABILITY

Several attendees expressed concern for the affordability of housing on this site, stating things like, “Our kids cannot afford to live in the city where they grew up.”


THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

Several attendees expressed the opinion/concern that the proposed EOC is incompatible with the other residential uses planned for the site.  This was emphasized by the fact that there is a MUCH BETTER alternative site located in Tustin.  It’s bigger, (24 acres) in a commercial zone and is close to 3 freeways.


RETENTION OF EXISTING STRUCTURES

A few people felt some of the existing structures - the auditorium, pool, etc., - should be retained and re-purposed.  Others felt MOST of the existing structures should be re-used to save money.


RV PARKING

An opinion was given that the site could be used as a safe place for folks living on the streets in RVs to park their rigs safely - at least until construction begins in a few years.


PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS AND TREES

Opinions were expressed that significant outdoor recreation sites should be included in any plan - parks, playing fields, walking and bike paths.  Opinions were expressed about retaining as much of the existing tree canopy as possible.


PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Concern was expressed about the lack of access to public transportation.  There needs to be a “transit hub” for this site.


SCHOOLS

Some folks thought there should be planning for a school within the footprint of the site.


VETERAN AND SENIOR HOUSING

Several people spoke supporting the use of the site for housing for senior citizens and veterans.


WORKFORCE HOUSING

The project should include affordable housing for those folks who actually work in Costa Mesa, reducing long commutes from home to work.


RETENTION AND EXPANSION OF BIKE PATHS

Some speakers requested consideration be given to expanding existing bike paths nearby.


SUBSIDIZE EMPLOYEE HOUSING

The City should subsidize housing costs for employees who would reside on this site.


WATER USE

Concerns were expressed about the amount of water this site would require.


THAT’S ALL, FOLKS

There you have it, dredged from my chicken-scratch notes from the evening.  Clearly, there is plenty of concern about this project.  If you want another take on this meeting visit the entry on the Goat Hill Rodeo blog, (HERE)


AFTER THOUGHT

Considering that this meeting moved briskly and still used up the allotted time, I wonder how it would have gone if, in fact, a couple hundred people had showed up?  Would we still be there, asking and answering questions?  And, would there have been enough cookies to go around?


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