WHAT’S UP -- steve smith
If you live in Costa Mesa, it’s enough to give you an inferiority
complex. First, I find out from a Web site monitoring service that the
city in which I live is no more. The sleepless workers at Mind-It sent me
the following note: “Costa Mesa, California, has died.” That’s it, that’s
all she wrote.
Upon further investigation, however, I discovered that Mind-It, an online
service which notifies subscribers of any changes in designated sites,
could not access the city’s Web site, which is on my list of places to be
watched. Long live Costa Mesa.
Then, I started reading about the good folks in Santa Ana Heights,
including comments by my Daily Pilot colleague, Joe Bell, and how these
residents appear to have chosen Newport Beach over Costa Mesa as their
future home town.
I guess that’s understandable. When I travel, I often tell people I’m
from Costa Mesa and then wait for the usual quizzical look.
“Where’s that?” they always say.
“Right next to Newport Beach,” I always reply.
“Oh, I know where that is,” they say. “That’s where the (insert Newport
Beach landmark here) is, isn’t it?”
But if you live in Costa Mesa, you have a lot to be proud of right now.
Costa Mesa is, in fact, the hottest city in the county at this time.
Consider the following:
* The city is poised to add a world-class concert hall center to its
existing world-class performing arts center. The combination will make
Costa Mesa a must for all of the best performers. We may even be lucky
enough to get Soupy Sales.
* South Coast Plaza’s former Crystal Court is ready to open, with an
exciting Crate & Barrel store and elevated walkway as new features. And
even though the planners still haven’t figured out that the walk from the
main mall to Crystal Court is rough on the gams, especially with shopping
bags, and that a people-mover of some sort would have been in order, it
will still be an excellent shopping destination.
* The Yard House, a restaurant with food so good, you’ll forget about
their 180 beer taps, has just opened. The wildly successful team of
Steele Platt, Steve Reynolds, Harald Herrmann and Carlito Jocson chose
none other than our fair city for the location of the second link in
their chain. Welcome, gents.
* The Harbor Center, formerly just another rundown strip mall, has been
converted into a striking new center featuring Home Depot, T.J. Maxx &
More and the soon-to-be-reopened Nick’s, thanks to Scott Bell and the
folks at ICI Development. Note to Nick: Hurry up.
* The city’s West Side appears it is finally getting some serious
revitalization attention. The homeless people down below in Talbert Park
-- you know, the ones who were minding their own business -- have been
kicked out and plans are for a nice new strolling type of retail center
to replace what is now just what Harbor Center used to be.
* Downtown Costa Mesa is in for a face-lift, too, as plans for a
beautiful new community center are moving right along.
* The vacant Fedco store on Harbor Boulevard is rumored to be the new
home of a Target store. That’s good news for those of you who didn’t like
dropping your dough at the Huntington Beach location.
* Two words: budget surplus. This exceptionally well-run city is in the
black. Again.
* Two more words: the Fair.
But with all of this going on, we’re still second fiddle behind Newport
in the race for the annexation of Santa Ana Heights. Some, however,
don’t believe there is any controversy here. Even Costa Mayor Gary
Monahan downplayed the significance of the debate. “Following a meeting
next week,” he told me, “I plan to introduce a proposal to relinquish the
part of Santa Ana Heights that has been in the sphere of influence of
Costa Mesa.”
So, there you have it. Costa Mesa may officially take itself out of the
Santa Ana Heights issue, and that’s just fine with me. I just hope that
the reason some Heights residents prefer Newport isn’t because Costa Mesa
hasn’t officially made up its mind about the El Toro airport while
Newport Beach has come out firmly in favor of it.
If that’s true, I’d like to suggest to Santa Ana Heights residents that
they don’t sell out so cheap. Hold out for a Krispy Kreme doughnut
location on Bristol.
* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. He can be
reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at o7 dailypilot@latimes.comf7 .
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