Month: April 2011

One of our intrepid readers pointed out that “the City of Costa Mesa’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/CityofCostaMesa) goes directly to William Lobdell’s page. What’s up with that?

Tuesday night my daughter and I attended the Costa Mesa City Council meeting. I have never seen such solidarity over any issue concerning Costa Mesa in the entire time I have lived here. One after another, citizens stood before the City Council and voiced their outrage regarding the outsourcing of city services.

Tustin city council chambers were packed last night as Mayor Jerry Amante was served with a recall notice.  A grassroots political organization presented Amante with […]

More than 50 people addressed the Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday night and it wasn’t pretty. People were angry. They were angry about the poorly researched outsourcing juggernaut that the council majority was imposing on the city work force. They were embarrassed that their Mayor had shown such a disregard for his duty as Mayor to continue to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day after city worker Huy Pham took his life at City Hall as layoff notices were delivered to 213 employees.

As I traveled around town, I continued to be on the lookout for the regular people on the streets. A few weeks back, I ran into the “drifter”. He had been chased away by the Sheriff after the local property manager had lodged a complaint. He was back with his increasingly faded “Need Work” Sign occupying the usual corner right across from the beautiful Laguna Niguel City Hall. I worked up the courage to walk up to see how he was doing.

Organizers of the Recall Amante movement are scheduled to serve Mayor Jerry Amante with a petition calling for his recall at a meeting of the […]

While Costa Mesa CEO Tom Hatch is projecting a budget shortfall for next year of $5 million, Appointed Councilman Steve Mensigner is projecting that “the city is facing a $15 million deficit,” if the majority’s proposals are enacted.

I have lived in Costa Mesa since 1978 and LOVE it here. Yet, it hasn’t all been sunshine and brother hood. In 1985 I moved into the house I live in now on the Westside of town. The first time one of my neighbors came to my door just a few days after we moved in, “Don’t send your kids to Wilson School. All the Mexicans go there.”