West Side lets its voice be heard

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- If the Latino community’s voice has been distinctly absent

from West Side revitalization meetings until now, it was heard load and

clear Wednesday in an empowering dialogue with civic leaders.

Nearly 100 residents and other parties with a vestedinterest in the

future of the West Side turned out for a meeting at the Neighborhood

Community Center to learn about the revitalization plans and express

their concerns and desires.

“If you had $100 million, what would you do with it?” said Latino

Business Council president Manfredo Lespier, giving the audience a

hypothetical proposition. “What’s the most important thing for your

community? I want you to tell me tonight.”

Public meetings and workshops have been held throughout the last year to

come up with a community vision for the West Side, which is being studied

by the city to address housing, employment, business, traffic,

landscaping and other needs.

The West Side revitalization plan was placed on hold when both the Latino

community and the business community complained that they had been left

out.

A meeting with the business community is scheduled for November and the

draft revitalization plan is expected to be completed in December.

The meeting Wednesday, which was conducted primarily in Spanish with

English translation, offered a level of comfort for Latino residents not

present at previous meetings. Residents who have attended workshops

throughout the yearlong process, such as Leticia Hermann, were much more

vocal about what they wanted.

“I believe the most important thing to our community and to my kids is we

need a middle school close by,” Hermann said.

A presentation explaining the revitalization plan was given by

Councilwoman Libby Cowan, but participants were eager to bypass that and

get to the public comments portion of the meeting.

Some of their concerns about the West Side included:

* An over-concentration of bars and liquor stores coupled with the lack

of recreational facilities for children.

* Keeping apartment owners accountable to residents, especially when it

comes to code enforcement.

* Addressing crime, especially public drunkenness and drug use, by

increasing police patrols.

* Upgrading dilapidated shopping centers in both appearance and the type

of businesses needed, specifically a large chain supermarket.

* Traffic safety and access to transportation.

Resident Carmen Leon complained that she walks half a mile to the bus

stop every day and said there needs to be more stops that are accessible

to residents.

Residents also struck up a dialogue with civic leaders, some complaining

about their frustration with the difficulty they had even learning about

the meeting.

“What guarantees do our Hispanic people have that our voice will not only

be heard ... but mean something and account for something?” said Jose

Coronado, pastor of a Spanish-speaking congregation at The Vineyard, a

Costa Mesa church.

Lespier returned the possibility to Coronado.

“The first step you need to take is participating,” he said. “If you

don’t take that first step, what good is your word?”

Although organizers were positive about the outreach meeting, some in the

community questioned whether it should even be taking place.

“I think that any time a particular racial group is standing up and

asking for attention based on their racial status, especially in a

political arena, it is divisive and I don’t think it’s healthy for the

community at large,” said West Side resident Eric Bever.

Bever also said he thinks Latinos have been the subject of more outreach

efforts than any group in the city and don’t have an excuse for not

participating.

Latino Business Council member Bill Turpit said that despite the outreach

by the city, the Latino community has been severely underrepresented in

the process and an effort should be made to include them.

“To have a meeting in August in which 200 participants show up, and

having only a literal handful of representatives from the Latino

community, indicates a significant portion of the population is not being

represented,” Turpit said. “This is what local government is all about,

that portions of the community affected by local actions are informed ...

and in some cases, encouraged to participate.”

Wednesday’s meeting was the beginning of a process that organizers hope

will spill over into public hearings set for early next year. Small

discussions, hosted by homeowners recruited at Wednesday’s meeting, are

also planned.