A "Visioning" We Go!
SMALL, BUT ENTHUSIASTIC, TURNOUT
Last night I joined almost 30 other people, nearly half of which were city staffers, in the first "visioning" exercise as part of the public outreach for the development of the city's General Plan.
WE DID JUST FINE...
The consultants who guided this process hoped for twice the number that showed up, which is one reason for the large number of staffers. They were going to help groups at individual tables form their thoughts. Everyone participated and it worked out just fine.
OFFICIALS AND STAFFERS
Council member Wendy Leece was the only elected official in attendance. I saw no planning commissioners nor were there any parks and recreation commissioners present, either. Among the city staffers at the meeting were Director of Public Services Ernesto Munoz, Acting Development Services Director Claire Flynn, Zoning Coordinator Willa Bowens-Killeen, Principle Planner Minoo Ashabi, Senior Planner Mel Lee, Management Analyst Hilda Veturis, Transportation Services Manager Raja Sethuraman, and brand new Economic and Development Services Director/Deputy CEO Gary Armstrong, who just took San Benito County through its General Plan Update before starting with Costa Mesa a week ago. Several other staffers were on hand to help, too. I hope they will forgive me for not listing them individually.
RANDOM DISCUSSION GROUPS
The attendees split into three groups that had been randomly selected and set about trying to craft their "vision" for Costa Mesa through the year 2035. Yeah, I know... the General Plan is a document with a decade shelf life, but we were encouraged to think further out than that.
PROS AND CONS
The process required each group to address the positives and negatives about Costa Mesa. On the plus side, Fairview Park, The Fairgrounds, South Coast Plaza, Neighborhood Parks, Diversity, Strong Neighborhood Identity were among those things I overheard being mentioned. On the negative side, we heard about Crime, Traffic and Homelessness, to name only a few.
TEAMWORK
The individual groups spent an hour working through the issue, then their anointed spokesperson presented the results of the effort to the assembled mob as a whole. It was fascinating to see how similarly each group thought when the process was done.
SIMILAR IDEAS
As the summaries were presented we heard phrases like these over and over:
PARTICIPATE DURING THE 60TH CELEBRATION
The next opportunity for the public to participate in this process will be during the 60th Anniversary Celebration on June 29 and 30. A booth will be manned at which members of the public can step up and provide their input. Snoopy will be on hand to help out. The booth will be available all day Saturday and from 3-5 on Sunday.
LAND USE TO BE CONSIDERED IN JULY
The next formal meeting will be held late in July and is scheduled to address Land Use.
Y'ALL COME...
Please tell your friends and neighbors about this wonderful opportunity to participate in creating the map by which the future of our city will be guided.
MAYOR' VIEWS UNREPRESENTED?
I noticed something I thought was peculiar at the meeting last night. There were no members of the public present that I would associate with the current city council majority. Not a single person who had stepped up and spoken for initiatives Mayor Jim Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger have launched over the past couple years. There were some familiar faces - folks who attend many meetings and speak at most - but there were also several "newbies" - folks who don't usually get involved. We need more of those.
NO CHARTER MENTIONED
And, by the way, I heard no mention of the word "Charter" heard last night during the discussion of the vision for the future.
Last night I joined almost 30 other people, nearly half of which were city staffers, in the first "visioning" exercise as part of the public outreach for the development of the city's General Plan.
WE DID JUST FINE...
OFFICIALS AND STAFFERS
Council member Wendy Leece was the only elected official in attendance. I saw no planning commissioners nor were there any parks and recreation commissioners present, either. Among the city staffers at the meeting were Director of Public Services Ernesto Munoz, Acting Development Services Director Claire Flynn, Zoning Coordinator Willa Bowens-Killeen, Principle Planner Minoo Ashabi, Senior Planner Mel Lee, Management Analyst Hilda Veturis, Transportation Services Manager Raja Sethuraman, and brand new Economic and Development Services Director/Deputy CEO Gary Armstrong, who just took San Benito County through its General Plan Update before starting with Costa Mesa a week ago. Several other staffers were on hand to help, too. I hope they will forgive me for not listing them individually.
RANDOM DISCUSSION GROUPS
The attendees split into three groups that had been randomly selected and set about trying to craft their "vision" for Costa Mesa through the year 2035. Yeah, I know... the General Plan is a document with a decade shelf life, but we were encouraged to think further out than that.
PROS AND CONS
The process required each group to address the positives and negatives about Costa Mesa. On the plus side, Fairview Park, The Fairgrounds, South Coast Plaza, Neighborhood Parks, Diversity, Strong Neighborhood Identity were among those things I overheard being mentioned. On the negative side, we heard about Crime, Traffic and Homelessness, to name only a few.
TEAMWORK
The individual groups spent an hour working through the issue, then their anointed spokesperson presented the results of the effort to the assembled mob as a whole. It was fascinating to see how similarly each group thought when the process was done.
SIMILAR IDEAS
As the summaries were presented we heard phrases like these over and over:
- Maintain Distinct Neighborhoods
- Vibrant Downtown
- Community Gathering Place
- Public Safety
- Preserve The Fairgrounds
- Improve Infrastructure - Walkability and Bikeability
- Prudent City Government
- More Diverse Revenue Sources
- Foster Home Grown Industries
- Continuing Partnership With Education Organizations
- Innovation
- Traffic - Congestion, Mobility
- Develop Programs To Encourage Young Families To Move To Costa Mesa
- Green Public Transportation
PARTICIPATE DURING THE 60TH CELEBRATION
The next opportunity for the public to participate in this process will be during the 60th Anniversary Celebration on June 29 and 30. A booth will be manned at which members of the public can step up and provide their input. Snoopy will be on hand to help out. The booth will be available all day Saturday and from 3-5 on Sunday.
LAND USE TO BE CONSIDERED IN JULY
The next formal meeting will be held late in July and is scheduled to address Land Use.
Please tell your friends and neighbors about this wonderful opportunity to participate in creating the map by which the future of our city will be guided.
MAYOR' VIEWS UNREPRESENTED?
I noticed something I thought was peculiar at the meeting last night. There were no members of the public present that I would associate with the current city council majority. Not a single person who had stepped up and spoken for initiatives Mayor Jim Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger have launched over the past couple years. There were some familiar faces - folks who attend many meetings and speak at most - but there were also several "newbies" - folks who don't usually get involved. We need more of those.And, by the way, I heard no mention of the word "Charter" heard last night during the discussion of the vision for the future.
Labels: General Plan
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 6/20/2013 12:50:00 AM
20 Comments:
Really, no 'visionaries' from Team Riggy there? That's telling, seeing as how they lack... wait for it... vision, beyond a charter, anyway!
If you want to see what's probably the Developer's vision for all of Costa Mesa, including Fairview Park, take a ride over to Harbor and Mesa Verde Drive East.
There's a reason he left Fountain Valley and it wasn't the food.
The property managers and the builders need to eat. The rest of you should just quiet down and pay your rent on time. Those who own should also quiet down and be grateful Old Fis branded the drinking water for you.
Correction - they have a vision, they just don't want us to know what it is until after they try (unsuccessfully) to push another charter down our throats.
What would the charter have to do with a general plan visioning session? Nothing. Way to stay relevant, buddy.
Relevance?,
Actually, quite a bit. Many things were discussed by the groups, including quality of governance. But, then, you wouldn't know about that because you chose not to participate.
I would like to serve as an unofficial proxy for team Riggy regarding this whole visioning-thing. I will be following the Planning Commission"s lead on this one and would like to suggest that even more burger joints be introduced to Harvor blvd. Just a few culinary delights I would like to see added are:
*Farmer Burgers
*Tommy's
*White Castle
*Johnny Rockets
*Fuddruckers
*Bob's Big Boy
I would be especially psyched about the addition of my last suggestion. I hate having to drive all the way to Toluca Lake to enjoy the legendary Big Boy. Just the savings alone on the gasoline would likely cause me to splurge a little, which would result in even more tax revenue for the city.
Would seem to me, Relevance?, that the charter would have everything to do with a general plan. I get that the charter is about local governance, but you're saying that doesn't tie into planning, or a vision of the city? Isn't planning part of governing, and wouldn't it be nice to see some of the people that support the current regime weigh in with their thoughts? Shouldn't we hear what our leaders envision for the future, other than fewer cops, more development in an already built-out city?
@ pessimist
I second having a tommys or a farmer boys. Could more burger joints really be that bad? :)
My point exactly. "Quality of governance" is an entirely separate issue and completely irrelevant in the context of general plan visioning and a complete waste of staff time and resources.
Every second spent opining about "quality of governance" is staff and public time stolen from the critical task of visioning what our development policies should be for the next decade - whether or not a charter is adpoted will have no impact on the general plan update these meetings address. You should know this.
The Government Code is very specific about what a general plan is, the first sentence of Government Code ยง 65302 is unambiguous.
"The general plan shall consist of a statement of development policies and shall include a diagram or diagrams and text setting forth objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals."
Well, since you WERE NOT at the meeting you're not in a position to know what was or was not part of the discussions. And, of course, you can pontificate anonymously from behind your mask, coward.
Show up the next time and bring your "wisdom" to the group. HA!
What a waste of time. Geoff, we all already know why there was a low turn-out. The scumbag councilmen on council will do whatever they want. This "exercise" is just a dog and pony show. They've already proved that they don't listen to PAID consultants. Why in the world would they listen to volunteers?
Fitzy already revealed their "vision", and apparently he re-coined that term as "mission statement"...
thanks Fis! good job.
Hey Geoff, why don't you call the cops or other city employees anonymously posting all kinds of inside information on your blog "cowards"?
You know, details about police applicants, code enforcement officers, etc.
Enough with the double standard. Stop being a petty partisan - you know that people post anonymously for a reason. Juts ask Wyatt Earp...
@empty land
Yes, i recently moved away from mesa verde/harbor area. We were kicked out for the remodeling of the apartments. Im glad they are making use of that empty lot behind the vons. It was just empty for years. BTW- on the newest planning commission agenda is an item regarding the re-purposing of much of the fairview development center land for high density housing!
Due to progress we were forced to move out. So we bought a place on westside bluff area, best bargain of my lifetime. As soon as we moved in they were starting here! Ive been living across the street from the slowest home building construction for a year, 1 development in escrow along pacific, another (the site of the unitarian church) is getting underway (in tear down phase)! The town is changing! And it seems to be following me! They seem to want to squeeze in as many houses as is allowable-- its going to get cramped here. I really want them to take their paws off of fairview park and leave talbert to the county! Open space is priceless
Have you driven through fountain valley lately along brookhurst? Construction everywhere! The osh is apparently to be torn down for condos (according to an employee). Ah. "progress".
I sense a new bubble afoot
claustrophobia:
"I sense a new bubble afoot"
You're right! It's here:
http://ochousingnews.com/news/its-official-housing-bubble-has-reflated
Developers don't care. They and their builder friends get paid and move on. The mortgage-owner gets stuck underwater after the bubble deflates.
The CM Planning Commission kowtows to the Developer, who gets his orders from the ocgop. Resist if you love Costa Mesa.
Relevance?.....what are you afraid of being disclosed?
One thing that will attract young families to move to Costa Mesa is affordable housing with yards for their kids to play in.
A backyard ( or front yard for that matter) is becoming a vanishing item in the overly dense new construction I see in our city.
@Relevance?
You havent seen anything yet! Camp Piggy needs to realize that there are a lot more of us than there are them.
Do you guys at camp piggy really think people are going just sit on the sidelines and watch you guys destroy our town?
We've stood together to defeat the charter proposal a few months ago and we'll defeat it again.
@kwalf
I agree! I bought a condo just wanting something i pay off in less than 10 years. One thing lacking, a decent yard. This wasnt meant to be a forever home, but a starter home. if this bubble trend continues I dont see having any large backyard bbqs in my future. I could have bought a house 1 year ago for what my condo is worth now. Its crazy! If i wait it out long enough im sure the next bubble will pop as well. Hindsight is 20/20.
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