Communication key on West Side

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The city must continue finding ways to include its Latino

population in the replanning process for the West Side, seven Latino

leaders told the City Council Monday night.

“We have dreams about having a nice place to live,” said Mirna Burciaga,

owner of El Chinaco Restaurant on Harbor Boulevard. “We want to

participate -- we want to be heard.”

Burciaga is a member of the Latino Community Advisors, a group of roughly

25 neighborhood activists, business owners and residents charged with

advising the city on how to plan the largely Latino West Side.

The group formed in September after residents there complained that city

planners had forgotten them when they began formatting a plan to improve

the neighborhood’s longtime problems with landscaping, traffic and street

layout.

“The city did try,” said group member Maria Elena Avila, owner of Avila’s

El Ranchito restaurant in the West Side, before Monday night’s meeting.

“They sent out bilingual fliers. But they just didn’t reach a large

segment of the population.”

At the council meeting Monday, the advisory group released a report aimed

at improving communication between the city and the Latino population.

One of the ideas in the report was to hire a liaison who could funnel

West Side Latino community needs to the city’s planners. Advisory group

members said those needs include expanding children’s programs,

developing a neighborhood-friendly commercial district and expanding

community policing programs.

The report also suggested the city partner with community organizations,

schools and churches to expand Latino participation in local government

-- especially as the city’s Latino population continues to grow.

In 1997, Latino residents made up nearly 45% of the neighborhood,

compared to just 18% in 1980, said Kristen Day, assistant professor to a

UC Irvine graduate class that helped survey the area for the advisory

group.

The advisors also recommended the council increase affordable housing in

the neighborhood.

“The availability of affordable housing is a significant problem on the

West Side,” said Manfredo Lespier, a Costa Mesa attorney and member of

the advisory group. “The West Side specific plan should address these

problems.”

Before the meeting, Avila said Monday’s City Council meeting would go

down in the history books.

“This is the first City Council meeting of the new millennium,” she said.

“And people will look back and see this is when a new bridge was built

between us, the Latino community, and the City Council.”