NO CHOICE!
Gee, I'm not sure what was more fun Monday night - watching
Tom Brady surgically slice and dice the Dolphins (517 yards passing - nearly 400 in the first half!) - or watching the Planning Commission meeting -
NOT!
I WATCHED ENOUGH...
I confess I didn't spend too much time watching the Planning Commission, choosing, instead to watch one of the most fantastic games any quarterback has ever played, but did catch enough snippets of it to make a couple observations.
WHATCHA EATIN', JIMBO?
First, I don't know what Mr. Green - commissioner
Jimmy (Fitzy) Fitzpatrick - was nibbling on all night, but someone should remind him that,
1) food is prohibited in council chambers except for water and,
2) munching whatever it was on the dais looks bad and is just plain bad manners! Good grief! It's no wonder he's getting to be built more like me (and Shrek) every day!
NO PARKING - ANYWHERE!The low point for me was the discussion, led by Chairman
Colin McCarthy, about clamping down on anyone, anywhere

in the city who parks a "commercial vehicle" on the city streets overnight. No, he doesn't mean big rigs - cargo tractors, dump trucks, etc. Nope, he means the work trucks owned by practically every small tradesman in the city - carpenters, electricians, plumbers, gardeners, contractors, etc. He's apparently personally offended that those hardworking folks would dare to park the tools of their livelihood on the street beside their homes.
TEMIANKA AS SCROOGEThis is getting to b

e a habit with the sycophants of the current council majority. Last month Parks and Recreation Commissioner
Ethan Temianka - Mayor Pro Tem
Jim Righeimer's campaign aid - announced that he wanted have the staff study what other cities do - and what it would take for Costa Mesa - to restrict "playing" in our parks to groups of 5 or more without a permit. Yep, he wants to forbid five members of a family from throwing a Frisbee around in any of our parks without a permit. No pick-up games of Over the Line - nothing recreational for a group of five or more without a permit. No sack races on Mother's Day or touch football games on Father's Day. No fun...
SUCKING THE FUN OUT OF LIFE
It seems to me that Righeimer and
Steve Mensinger's mantra about wanting to attract young families to our city somehow managed to miss the mark with some of their lemmings. What young family wants to move to a city that is institutionally sucking all the fun out of life here? Not many.
Labels: Colin McCarthy, Ethan Temianka, Jim Fitzpatrick, Jim Righeimer, Steve Mensinger