Author Archives: McEvoyCampaign

Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I also appreciate all the words of support I received along the way. Finally a big Thank You to all those who got involved and help spread the word.

Being a City Councilman is so much more than dealing with employee salary and benefits. That is one issue that will be faced and fixed. Every single candidate understands how important it is to make that aspect of Costa Mesa sustainable and will work towards that. So what else is there?

Each candidate represents a vision for the future of Costa Mesa and to me this is the important issue. To me Costa Mesa is wonderful. We have everything and are so wonderfully diverse. Our City has distinct areas, each of which adds to the overall character of what we love. My vision echoes that of so many residents that love Costa Mesa for what it is. We are Costa Mesa and not Newport, Huntington, Santa Ana or Irvine. This is in stark contrast to Righeimer’s vision and to paraphrase him from the Eastside forum believes we (Costa Mesa) needs to figure out what we want to be when we grow up.

We have major issues on the horizon, Bluff Road, Sale of the OC Fairgrounds, Desalination Plant and John Wayne expansion. Each one of these issues is a quality of life issue and Costa Mesa will be on the short end of that stick. A Councilmember will also deal with little issues that are just as important as these major ones. In applying a concept from Calculus, the sum of a series I understand that a bunch of poor decisions eventually impact a community equally to that of a major issue. Righeimer definitely is approaching that equality with his position against property rights(RV parking, fences, weekend upkeep and work trucks) and history of projects over people (Overlay density loophole, Senior housing next to the Shark Club/73 freeway and LED lights).

Again being a Councilman is so much more than dealing with employee salary and benefits. Consider the whole package.

Thank you for the support. Cut and paste this email address, votemcevoy@yahoo.com Send me an email and I will deliver a yard sign.

I am officially entered in the 2010 Costa Mesa City Council race. There are 2 seats available to the two candidates with the highest vote counts. This is my second time running in 2 years. I do not accept donations and am personally funding this campaign. If you would like to help, ask me for a yard sign or tell other Costa Mesa voters.

I am a 6th year High School Mathematics Teacher by trade and hold a B.S. in Mathematics from C.S.U.L.B., so I am trained to think. I also have around 13 years of small business experience at TK’s Froghouse.

Since the last City Council election I have attended all but a few Council and Planning Commission meetings, so I am current on Costa Mesa’s issues. Probably the most critical issue to us at the moment of this publication is our budget deficit. In order to balance the ’10-’11 budget the current City Council needs lay off a lot of good City employees. Further, much like any after holiday sale we need $ and will sell at discounts to get it. An example of this would be enticing redevelopment with concessions like increased density. There are not many people I know, myself included, who want to see a population boom. With regards to the possible revenue generated from the O.C. Fairgrounds, we need to be careful not to overdo it, meaning it would be okay if we waited a little for a significant profit so long as it doesn’t become a nuisance. So basically we have to weather this recession and not damage our future. This is a minor sacrifice compared to what many other generations have made.

My voting style will best be described as a Costa Mesa Traditionalist and I will fight to protect all our unique communities. I love what we have here. We are so unique, so diverse, in such a perfect location and have so many resources. Obviously we have some rough edges, with community help they smooth out over time and in doing such retain their quality characteristics.

I believe our Westside Industrial Area is and will be a City asset. It is in current danger under our Overlay zone, see above. As population increases and ease of transportation decreases, local industrial and business areas become that much more valuable. Benefits include, small businesses, Costa Mesa businesses, tax revenue, decreased weekend density and traffic.

The Banning Ranch and Bluff Road are also related to the Westside Industrial Area. The Banning Ranch development not only destroys what little open natural space we have but also greatly increases density and cut through traffic via Bluff Road. If we assume that the 1,375 new residences has only one average 4 door sedan we introduce 3.9 miles of permanent vehicles to our area. The Bluff Road will add cut through traffic on West 16th, 17th and 19th streets.

Illegal immigration is a topic of discussion. Here is my position, I like the ICE program, it allows us to cherry pick good people. Our “rule of law” resolution/motto is silly and unnecessary based on our City’s history.

I have no party affiliation, all my decisions are based on what I believe is best for Costa Mesa in the long term.

I will not vote against fireworks, too much benefit to our youth programs. Medical Marijuana should be sold in Costa Mesa. We can regulate it and tax it, further we should respect the voters of California that passed this measure.

My personal life is personal and I do not want to push my morals on anyone.

I will answer policy questions,so feel free to ask.

Please understand that your vote supports a vision for our City and not a sea of lawn signs and a mailbox full of mailers.

Finally I issue a challenge to all my opponents. Be upfront where your money comes from and answer the questions you are asked.

On January 8th, 2010 the State of California will have closed biding on the Orange County Fairgrounds and Expo Center. The highest bid on January 8th will be the opening bid for the auction held January 14th, whom ever has the highest bid that day will own the Fairgrounds.

Currently the City of Costa Mesa is pushing for the sale to be stopped and at the same the City is also doing a good job in preparing for a very likely future .
• The City is moving ahead in preparing a ballot initiative that will lock in the Fairgrounds current uses through the General Plan. This is good because the City is making it clear to potential buyers that there is only one use for this land, its current use. This initiative may have lowered the value of the Fairgrounds because this greatly limits the profit possibility and would make this a bad deal for the state.
• The City and County of Orange are going to bid on the Fairgrounds together. There is no guarantee they will be the highest bidder but at the same time it could happen.

The Governor can call off the sale at anytime. This is where we all come in. The Mayor of Costa Mesa encourages us to write, call, email
(start here http://gov.ca.gov/interact), fax, just contact the Governor and ask him to stop the sale. You will find all of the Governor’s contact information below. I also posted the contact information for California’s First Lady (Governor’s Wife)

Governor’s Office:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160 (new number )

District Offices:

Fresno Office
2550 Mariposa Mall #3013
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: 559-477-1804
Fax: 559-445-5328

Los Angeles Office
300 South Spring Street
Suite 16701
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-897-0322
Fax: 213-897-0319

Riverside Office
3737 Main Street #201
Riverside, CA 92501
Phone: 951-680-6860
Fax: 951-680-6863

San Diego Office
1350 Front Street
Suite 6054
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-525-4641
Fax: 619-525-4640

San Francisco Office
455 Golden Gate Avenue
Suite 14000
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-703-2218
Fax: 415-703-2803

Washington D.C. Office
134 Hall of the States
444 North Capitol Street NW
Washington D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-624-5270
Fax: 202-624-5280

Here is the contact information for the Governors Wife.

First Lady Maria Shriver
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160

On Monday June 8th the Costa Mesa Planning Commission will most likely amend the overlay zone. What this means is that they are going to ease up on the building restrictions in that area of town.

Brief History

The overlay zone affects property owners in Costa Mesa’s Westside industrial area. The ultimate goal of the overlay zone is to eliminate the industrial use of properties and replace them with residential and/or retail buildings. The overlay zone was implemented as a way for the city to “revitalize” the Westside.

To date there has only been 2 projects approved under this overlay and this leads us to the amendment to the overlay zone. The Planning Commission wants to see more development in the overlay zone.  To get more development the Planning Commission is going to create a loophole in the overlay zone.

Here is how. Currently the overlay zone allows the development of mixed use buildings. Mixed use buildings are part retail (i.e. stores) and part residential (apartments). To promote development the Planning Commission is considering removing the workspace requirements, thus making the building purely residential and avoiding current residential density requirements by building under the mixed use title. Also these buildings are allowed to be 4 stories, 60 feet in height with 90% lot coverage. This will create high-density.

Why this matters

Primarily this will create high-density residential community. High-density will negatively effect our quality of life.

This amendment benefits the developers and not the residents of our city. The overlay zone is in place as a way to revitalize our city however if high-density buildings are approved, future problems in the Westside will need to be corrected.

This negative future can easily be avoided.

What can be done

At the very least take a couple of minutes write down your thoughts and email the planning commission at

PlanningCommission@ci.costa-mesa.ca.us

Even better come down to city hall Monday June 8th at 6:30pm in the council chambers and share your opinion(s).

McEvoy Discussing new Methods to generate revenue for the City

Check out the Orange County Register’s article about the most recent Costa Mesa City Council Candidate Forum.  http://www.ocregister.com/articles/candidates-city-mesa-2203912-ranch-banning