HEAR THE ROOSTER CROWING?

As I begin to write this the sun has not yet begun to rise, but it's not far off. It took me awhile to clear my head after the Costa Mesa City Council meeting Tuesday night/Wednesday morning before I felt composed enough to begin hammering this out. The meeting, which began promptly at 6, didn't end until 12:59 a.m. today, Wednesday.
LET'S BEGIN...
There's no easy way to begin this except to start at the beginning and just plow my way through it. I'll give you the short version of events this time. Each element had its own little dramatic moment.
PUBLIC COMMENTS

Mayor
Jim Righeimer announced that he had 23 Public Comment cards, which meant the first 10 - after he shuffled them - would speak early and the remainder would speak at the
VERY end of the meeting if they had the fortitude to stick it out.
Al Melone spoke about the Dog Park. Someone named
Pamela Wilson griped about receiving a "union" mailer against the Charter and sounded for all the world like a Tea Partier. Two teenage girls spoke about alcohol awareness programs.
Jeff Arthur echoed Wilson and expressed dismay about dishonesty and propaganda.
James Bridges thanked CEO
Tom Hatch and Police Chief
Tom Gazsi for visiting his neighborhood to offer condolences to the family of
Kyle Johnson, who died in a traffic accident in Arizona Sunday.
Beth Refakes reported on the Military Affairs Team's visit to the headquarters of our adopted Marine unit, the 1/5.
Harold Weitzberg spoke about development and the lack of affordable housing.
Cindy Brenneman asked for the meeting to be adjourned in honor of Kyle Johnson.
Teresa Drain expressed concern about the lingering questions surrounding the 60th Anniversary Celebration scandal.
Cindy Black told the mayor he should quit trying to run Costa Mesa like a Charter city, and used a box prop to make a point. At the end an unidentified woman walking with a cane attempted to speak but Righeimer shut her down because only 10 people could speak. The woman and her husband then left, not being able to wait until what would have been well after midnight. The crowd boo'd the mayor.
COUNCIL COMMENTS

During Councilmember Comments
Wendy Leece spoke about Save Our Youth (SOY), the Relay for Life event last weekend, Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, the 1/5 Marines and
Lorna Lyttle, our deployed Park Ranger.
Gary Monahan had nothing to say. Righeimer whined about having to run his meeting in defense of his rejection of the earlier speaker.
Steve Mensinger spoke of infrastructure improvements.
Sandy Genis spoke about Middle Class Taxpayers in response to earlier speaker's criticism of the anti-Charter mailers.
HATCH

During his segment Hatch spoke about the $4.4 million in Capital Improvement projects, including streets and alleys, which he described as great community assets. He and Director of Public Services
Ernesto Munoz talked about successes with street and alley paving, indicating that our current status on the Pavement Condition Index is now 84.9 compared to a much lower number a couple years ago.
MORE SPEAKERS
Because it was not yet 7:00, Righeimer permitted two more Public Comment speakers -
Gay Royer spoke of unacceptable traffic on the "Victoria Freeway" on the Westside and
Tamar Goldmann spoke of the mandatory alcohol service training.
ANGRY ANNEXATION

The first Public Hearing was the Annexation of the so-called Santa Ana/Colleen tract - 14 acres of county land that is about to be annexed from the county into Costa Mesa, which already provides most essential services. Eight (8) people spoke on this issue, including many residents. Most were enthusiastic about the annexation, but were very concerned density, lot size and losing the character and quality of life that exists in their little enclave now. During the subsequent discussion spot zoning came up. When Righeimer said the newly-annexed parcels would be subject to our current R-1 zoning, which meant 6,000 square foot minimum lot sizes and smaller setbacks a discussion ensued in which Genis reminded the mayor of the inconsistency being followed applying the rules and cited 125 East Baker Street and other recent developments. Righeimer moved to approve the item. Genis offered a substitute motion to have staff study the various questions and bring it back because there really is no rush. That went down in flames on a 3-2 vote - she and Leece voted yes. Monahan offered another substitute motion to expand the lot size to 6,600 square feet and it passed, 3-2.
BUDGET

After a 15 minute break - during which Righeimer found himself in intense conversation with residents of the annexation community, the council tackled the next two items on the agenda, both of which dealt with the budget. The first one, the Appropriation Limit, passed, 5-0 after almost no discussion.
MENSINGER IMPROVES HIS NEIGHBORHOOD

The Budget discussion lasted longer and would have passed in short order except that Mensinger wanted medians and other work completed in his neighborhood, Mesa Verde, so he asked for over $600,000 be shifted from the $1 million earmarked for library issues and shoved aside Genis comments about needing to fix the air conditioning at the Royal Palm fire station and other maintenance items there for less than $100,000. Talk about screwed-up priorities. During the public comments City Council candidate
Lee Ramos stepped up for one of his very infrequent trips to the speaker's podium to thank the council for its hard work, recited what sounded very much like a stump speech. He and his conjoined twin,
Dennis Popp, departed immediately after this segment of the meeting. Must have been bed time for them both. In any event, the budget passed with Mensinger's amendments, 3-2, with Leece and Genis voting no. So, off we go with a
$140,000,000 budget, including another $1,000,000 slush, er, contingency fund.
EPITHETS FLY

At 9:20 the council began discussing Public Hearing #4, the 28-unit development on Harbor Boulevard and Hamilton Street which backs up to noisy, dirty, loud industrial uses. Thirteen (13) people spoke on the issue - all against it. However, the high (or low, depending on you viewpoint) came when long time businessman Tim Lewis spoke. He tried, unsuccessfully, to convince the council that this was a bad project at that location. In frustration, at the end of his time, twice he hurled the "F" Bomb at Righeimer, wadded up some of his papers and threw them toward the dais and said, "
Go to hell, you bastards! I'll see you at the polls!" Police officers in attendance calmed him down as other speakers stepped up.
BUZZ WORDS
After the applicant made his presentation the council debated the value of the project. Righeimer used the current buzz phrase, "
Moving Forward" and the "
Brand is Strong" as he forced the vote, which ended up passing, 3-2. Leece and Genis voted no.
MORE CONSULTANT DOLLARS

At just before 11:00 the discussion turned to New Business #1, the extension and amplification of the contract for the consultant working with the City on the General Plan Update. It passed, 5-0.
REPLACING TWO WITH FIVE
New Business #2 was a screening request for a project on West 19th Street at Wallace Avenue replacing a home and pawn shop with five condominium units. After a half-hour discussion it was moved forward in the process.
THE BIG ISSUE...

At 11:20 discussion began on New Business #3, the screening request for the 176 ownership units on 9 acres bordered 17th Street, Pomona Avenue and Superior Avenue. Fifteen (15) people spoke on the project, including a steady stream of like-minded young people, all in their late 20's to early 30's, who sounded very much like they were reading the same playbook. In fact, one other speaker made a similar observation. These guys all arrived together and were hanging out together during the meeting. And, some of their names were included in the letters supporting the project that looked very much like canned responses. Eventually, at 12:45 a.m., the project- which Righeimer described as the "tipping point" of Westside development - was moved along.
LEFTOVER SPEAKERS

This provided time for the "leftover" speakers from Public Comments to address the council.
Flo Martin raked the council over the coals for recent actions and whining about a Democratic-controlled state legislature, then pointed to the dais where only Republicans reside.
HUMPHREY CALLS OUT RIGHEIMER FOR DISTORTIONS
Jay Humphrey, a former councilman and announced candidate for that office this year, apologized for an earlier outburst against Righeimer, whom he chided for misrepresenting facts about development throughout the city. I've never seen Humphrey angry before, but he was last night on this issue - and correctly so. Righeimer had earlier described, while defending the 28 units on Harbor and Hamilton, that the only development we're seeing along there is car washes and storage lots. Humphrey jammed those "facts" right back at him, and defined at least 590 housing units that had, or are being, approved along that stretch of road.
VRSKA QUESTIONS LEGAL COSTS
Anna Vrska, at 12:50 a.m., questioned the activities of
Jones & Mayer, our contract law firm that provides City Attorney services. She began totaling up numbers that implied that we're being billed for 5 full-time attorneys every day of the year! Seemed like a good question.
LEECE - "EVERYTHING'S GREAT AT THE SENIOR CENTER"

At the very end of the meeting, just before 1:00 a.m., Wendy Leece told the council that the Senior Corportation had voted to begin dissolving itself at their meeting Tuesday morning, and that everything was going just fine and dandy at the Senior Center. Based on my conversations Tuesday, I don't think we're getting the whole story. More on that later.
JULY 1ST...
The next meeting is on July 1st, just in time for a discussion of who gets how many fireworks stands, and why. Another time...
Labels: Budget Proposal, Costa Mesa Senior Center, development, Jim Righeimer, Steve Mensinger, Tim Lewis, Tom Gazsi, Tom Hatch