Encouraging Responses to my motel visit

I shouldn't be surprised by getting positive feedback from the piece I wrote about my visit to the Costa Mesa Motor Inn. It confirms that we Costa Mesans, in spite of other differences in opinions, are collectively compassionate, caring and eager to show mercy to our neighbors if given the chance to do something tangible.

I have been burdened by the real life, hard luck stories I heard from the CMMI residents.

Of course many of us knew this day was coming for those who live in motels, mobile homes and other affordable housing in Costa Mesa. Many of us have copies of the City's  "M" map showing our motels and mobile home parks with colored dots as targets for redevelopment.  For awhile, the planning department gave out those maps to developers who could zero in on those parcels when looking for prime real estate deals in Costa Mesa knowing our developer friendly council would help with the details.

But it's almost Christmas,  so let's put aside the politics for a moment.  Is there anything we can do to ease the plight of some of our neighbors? We can't help hundreds in need, but maybe we can stop and help one, or two.

Yes, we can act on those heart- felt impulses and reach out with some small act of kindness.

My friend Terri is collecting sleeping bags for the homeless. She emailed me today that the bag I gave her was placed on a woman sleeping and the woman almost cried when Terri placed it over her.

I'm going to buy a gift card for one CMMI family that touched my heart.

Maybe you're thinking of doing something too. Do it!

Let's not get overwhelmed and discouraged by the battles we've lost or the ones ahead.

Let's show our  Costa Mesa love and compassion and chase the demons right out of our city and pray they don't come back.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Life Happens in Costa Mesa

Arriving Saturday morning at the infamous Costa Mesa Motor Inn on Harbor Blvd., I saw three little girls, about 7 or 8 years old, giggling and chasing each other near the golf course fence, behind the motel's entrance gate. I immediately recognized one little girl whose picture had been in the paper recently.

My heart was telling me Saturday to go with a handful of others to pass out flyers to motel residents informing them of their legal rights.  Recently the city council voted to approve a zoning change and replace the motel with luxury apartments.  Those little girls and their parents live at the motel and will need to find a new home in 2016.  The flyers will help them with their futures.

This apartment project came before the city council in 2014 for a "screening" when I was still on the council. At the screening, I approved the new project's concept. The outdated motel had a bad reputation for crime and many police and fire calls.  However, at the time, I had asked the developer representing the owner to please include "affordable housing" to match the incomes of those residents being displaced, in the final project. Unfortunately, that request was denied. There will be some affordable housing in the new project, but the future residents would need to make approximately $75,000, perhaps more than $100,000 to be eligible for an apartment.  I wouldn't qualify. 

By passing out the flyers, I was in a very small way helping residents in their relocation plans from the motel to a new home.  I told them that if they have lived at the motel for more than 30 days, they were promised cash relocation assistance. The owner agreed to pay the benefits beginning in February 2016 through August 1, 2016.  In addition, Councilwoman Katrina Foley successfully negotiated with the owner for  $250,000 for the City staff to assist residents. Those details, I understand, are still being worked out.

As I spoke with some residents, I was told by several that the conditions of the motel had improved greatly since 2013. Gone were many drug dealers and the problems they brought. 

 I talked with parents, children by their sides, all concerned with their futures and how things would work out for them.  They welcomed the flyers which reminded them of some things they could do to prepare for their moves.  I listened to several stories of lives on the brink, a few steps away from homelessness. Fortunately, they were looking forward to church members bringing cheer and presents for a Christmas party for them.

This motel and its residents had been characterized many times by the council majority as a den of iniquity, filled with drugs, pimps and prostitutes needing immediate removal from our city.  But that is not what I saw.  I saw a very clean motel, (no trash), a nice playground and sparkling pool and normal looking people and kids. Many told me they were long time Costa Mesa residents wanting to stay in Costa Mesa.

I believe all lives matter, and some lives are not worth less than others. (I hated that "lifeboat" analogy we used to teach in the 70's).

 If we keep going in this direction in Costa Mesa, we might end up with more money in our budget because of more revenue from property taxes, but we will have lost our heart, our compassion, and that will be pretty hard to restore.  

It takes all kinds of people to make up a great city like ours.  We seem to be going down a road where we are squeezing out those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.  It wasn't too long ago that residents of the mobile home park Rolling Homes on Newport Blvd. almost lost their homes to a proposed apartment project until an adjacent property owner saved the day and said he wasn't going to sell his property to provide access to the new project. God intervened.

I'm praying for these folks at the motel.  They could use some miracles too.

I'm baaaack! Some crazy glitch in Blogger (or some nefarious plot to dismantle my ocpublicsquare square blog) prevents me from posting the normal way, but I have overcome all obstacles and I'm back in the blogging business.

ICYMI Fairview Park Preservation Alliance is now waiting until Oct 2 for the CM City attorney to approve the petition which would preserve the park "as built" in perpetuity and require any additions to follow the park's master plan. Those interested, watch for updates. We need to collect more than 5,000 valid Costa Mesa voter signatures. Check out and like Facebook page Fairview Park Preservation Alliance.

That's the same amount we need to collect for the Costa Mesa First initiative to put a stop on out of control development adding more density and traffic to our already busy streets. Check out Facebook and website www.costamesa1st.Com for details and how you can help gather signatures.

It's a busy season for us normal Costa Mesans who want our voices to be heard by the City Council.

Next up: homeless issues and sober living: how are they related?  (No visible relapse plan for those who fall off the wagon onto our streets and parks and remaining bus benches).

Why?

Why?
Why do we do it? Why do we skip dinner, put on our thinking caps after a long day and go to a city council meeting? Why don't we just stay home? Why do we sit there and pore over staff reports, scribble out what we hope makes sense, turn a card in so we can speak, and then stay past midnight to put in our 2 cents about Fairview Park? Why?

Because, we care. We love this city. We care about Hank Lloyd and his great tennis program which for Costa Mesans is affordable and convenient.  We care about the City Council budget and the reserve fund.  We want the Council to put more than $500,000 towards the unfunded pension liability. We don't want to see our city, blessed with probably the biggest shopping center in the world, go bankrupt.

We love this city and are prepared to do whatever it takes to get it back into the hands of people who really care about people and are not just interested in reimaging out city from one end to the other and changing the rules so developers can make more money and then give some of it to the politicians who helped them.

We've never  been in this place before.  We stopped TWO dumb charters, stopped Big League Dreams, elected Sandy and Katrina, but our backs are still against the wall without a majority. 

But last night's council meeting was a doosy! We actually beat back the sports fields because people got up and told the council we don't want no stinkin sports fields at Fairview or some crazy survey that is skewed to tell the Council Costa Mesans want sports fields.  (No data has EVER been produced by the recreation department to prove we NEED more sports fields or lighted sports fields).

Earlier, we watched as Gary divulged confidential information about the CMPOA---totally breaking the Brown Act by stating the POA turned down an offer.  Tom Duarte's  answer was so wishy washy. Katrina did an awesome job of calling him out.

So if you are reading this and thinking you don't need to pay attention to what is going on at city hall, I have to tell you that you are wrong.  We need more people who love this city and are willing to sacrifice a few comforts to continue to confront the City Council on issues that impact the future of our City. 

In a few minutes I'm off to College Park School to a forum on sober living homes put on by College Park residents who are enraged that a neighbor's home was broken into by someone who lives in a nearby sober living home.  The kids were asleep and the dad got up and chased him out!  He was arrested later, thank God. How has the sober living home market been allowed to saturate our city? Why don't we have enough police to patrol our neighborhoods?

It may be everything is just fine on your street, but with police staffing down below 100, and plan underway to close Fire Station 6 up by South Coast Plaza, it's only a matter of time before you realize you need to come down to City Hall and make your voices heard to the City Council too.  It's not too late.  Those of us who go don't want our city to be just a memory.  We want to preserve it for the future so that others can enjoy the blessings and quality of life we have enjoyed.