Tom Egan -- COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

When I got home from observing the recent Costa Mesa City Council

retreat, I reflected on the presentation the mayor of Laguna Beach and

the leaders of Vision Laguna had made about their experience in planning

for Laguna’s future. I started to get a long face. This was caused by

three realizations.

The first was that I don’t know how Costa Mesans could join together

enthusiastically, as Laguna Beach has, to support a conscious effort to

take charge of our future -- taking into account how geographically,

economically and politically fractionated the town is, and how reluctant

the voters are to spend money. It may be possible, but I just don’t know

how Costa Mesa can pull itself together into a shared community of

interest.

The second thing I realized was that, because of this lack of

community, the straightforward approach used by Laguna Beach -- envision

the desired future, plan how to get there, then act to get there --

probably wouldn’t work in Costa Mesa. This was disappointing because I

had expected that Costa Mesa could save a lot of time and money by just

piggybacking on Laguna’s experience. I had expected our process would

only take a year, maybe two.

The third thing was that if any change occurs in Costa Mesa, it

probably won’t be by any orderly “ready, aim, fire” kind of process. This

is unfortunate, because from my experience as a systems engineer working

on large, complex aerospace systems, I know that the more systematic you

can be, the lower the cost will be and the better the quality will be of

the final product. I weep for my pocketbook and those of my fellow Costa

Mesans. I also weep for the lost opportunity to achieve a high-quality

city.

Resident comments at the subsequent Feb. 5 council meeting did nothing

to lift my gloomy spirits. Several demanded improvements -- fix it right

now! -- in the hot spots we know so well: slums, crime, traffic and

schools.

Unfortunately, they did not look at the bigger picture and also demand

improvement in systemic problems that will bite us in coming years and

perhaps stymie any fixing of hot spots.

For example, untaxed Internet sales will take precious sales away from

Costa Mesa’s auto dealers (5% of car sales are projected to be completed

via the Internet within five years) and retailers such as South Coast

Plaza. (Fess up, you’re buying more than ever from out of town through

catalogs and the Internet, aren’t you?)

How much can that hurt? Suppose the loss of sales tax revenue is just

10%. This year, the estimated city revenue from sales tax alone is $32.69

million. If we lose 10% of that, we have $3.269 million less to pay city

bills with. That’s real money that might have gone to fix slums, traffic

and schools (not to mention potholes, parks and police).

Then there’s the threat of the state to take some of our sales tax

revenue and ship it out to cities that don’t have such a good retail

base. Maybe they won’t do it. But in case they do, shouldn’t we be

planning how to change our retail-dependent economy to protect ourselves?

Or do we want to just tighten our belts some more as millions more fly

out the door?

I believe it is in our best interests to be armed against future

threats. I believe we should systematically take charge of our future.

Otherwise, someone else will pick a future for us.

TOM EGAN

Costa Mesa