ON THE ISSUES

* NEW CODE REGULATIONS

Worthington said he favors using code enforcement officers to urge

voluntary compliance and would prefer that the city concentrate on one

code concern at a time instead of “an entire menu.”

The process has worked well for the sanitary district, he said, as

code enforcement officers first encourage people to remove trash

containers from the street before requiring them to be out of view

between trash collection days.

* WEST SIDE SPECIFIC PLAN

The city should “clean up the area first and go after owners who are

not keeping their sites up to code second,” Worthington said.

He said he supports discouraging excess numbers of people in homes by

limiting services to support only the number of people who should be

living in a residence.

* 17TH STREET IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Worthington said he is against widening 17th Street because “too many

businesses and too many residents do not want this street widened” but is

in favor of bus turnouts, center divider islands, left-turn signals and

landscaping.

* CITY BUDGET

He said he is opposed to Measure O, which would allow the City Council

to raise hotel taxes from 6% to 8%, because the tax does not benefit the

hotel industry.

“Were these dollars used to create tourism and increase hotel stays,

they would have positive purpose,” he said.

Instead, Worthington said he supports franchising city trash

collection services to help generate tax-free revenue for parks.

* TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

Calling Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue the worst two streets in

Costa Mesa, Worthington said he favors looking into a variable lane plan.

He said removing traffic islands between Brookhurst Street and Harbor

Boulevard would allow six lanes.

In the morning, two “control lanes” in the middle could be used for

eastbound traffic, increasing the number of eastbound lanes from two to

four. In the evening, those middle lanes could by used for westbound

traffic, Worthington said.

Traffic lights should be reset to accommodate more cars, left-turn

signals should be added and the speed limit should be reduced from 50 mph

to 40 mph, he said.