The Westside Story

Jennifer Kho

WESTSIDE -- To those who live here, the city’s Westside is a place

full of small-town character.

It is a matter of Westside pride that the homes are not uniform, that

people walk everywhere and that many of the businesses, including shops,

restaurants and services, are mom-and-pop establishments.

Many residents also brag about the good weather, claiming the Westside

gets a cooling sea breeze that the rest of the city doesn’t.

The Westside -- bordered by Joann Street, Harbor Boulevard, Superior

Avenue, the Newport Beach border and the Fairview and Talbert regional

parks -- has an unusual mix of housing, businesses and manufacturing.

The diversity extends to the population, which is 44% Latino according

to a 1997 survey that contains the latest figure available for the

Westside, and has a variety of ages, incomes and professions.

But some residents say the hodgepodge of lot sizes and the wide mix of

apartments, single-family homes, business and industry, as well as a

large influx of residents who came here illegally from Latin America, are

the cause of the other side of the Westside image.

Clear signs of wear and tear are visible in the potholes, rundown

shopping centers, liquor stores and bars that line some of the major

streets.

“There’s the mixed zoning, there are a lot of apartments on this side

of town and the generally rundown atmosphere,” said Diana LaDuca, a

member of the Westside Improvement Assn. “Some of the structures need

better maintenance and more cleanliness. Sometimes it’s pretty dirty with

litter.”

Westside residents are quick to point out that the problems are the

result of long-standing neglect.

“These problems have been there for years,” said Eleanor Egan,

co-chair of the Westside Improvement Assn. “I think we’ve been ignored

for a long time. I mean, look at the pavement. I think what happened is

people felt helpless and hopeless and didn’t try to do anything.”

The city began paying closer attention to the Westside cries for

improvement in 1998, when it began considering intense revitalization for

the area.

During two years of city meetings and studies on the plan, vastly

different opinions formed and people with similar goals formed or joined

a number of organizations.

From the outspoken and often controversial Citizens for the

Improvement of Costa Mesa to the more obscure Coalition of Auto Repair

and Service Professionals, they all have one thing in common: They want

the Westside and its image improved.

They disagree, however, about the sources of the problems, which

improvements are needed and in the methods they are using to bring about

change.

Their ideas can be controversial.

Some residents have said for several years that a steady stream of

illegal immigrants and low-income families have overcrowded apartments

and schools, overtaxed city services, and increased blight and gang

activity.

Others say the problem is rising housing and living costs, combined

with wages that have not kept up.

Their solutions include asking the city to consider building a 19th

Street bridge crossing the Santa Ana River and reducing the number of

charities in the city.

In November, two things changed in the improvement group community.

First, Chris Steel, a longtime City Council critic who had run

unsuccessfully nine times, won a seat on the council based on that

platform. The Citizens for the Improvement of Costa Mesa group, which

supported Steel’s election, continues to have similar views.

Also that month, City Council members voted to delay further Westside

planning efforts until they can agree on a vision for the entire city.

Their vision could be a long time coming. They have not yet begun to

work on it and do not even agree on whether the city should have one.

Nonetheless, several organizations are finding the momentum to work

past the plan’s demise.

Groups born out of the proposed plan, as well as groups that worked on

the plan but matured well before the plan was in its first draft, have

turned their attention to new ways to improve the Westside.

CITIZENS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF COSTA MESA

They rarely have meetings in person, but members of the Citizens for

the Improvement of Costa Mesa keep in touch several times a day via

computers.

The group of no more than 20 active members has a running dialogue on

its e-mail chat group, concernedcostamesacitizens@yahoogroups.com, which

nearly 70 residents have visited, Chairwoman Janice Davidson said.

Even members of other organizations frequent the chat group because it

is a way for people in need to find help and for people who want to get

involved to learn how they can help, she said.

Davidson started the organization last year after leaving the Westside

Improvement Assn.

“I had worked with the WIA, but my heart was set on CICM from the very

beginning,” she said. “It’s citywide, not just the Westside, and it’s a

very valuable thing. We’re talking about what we can do for the city

that’s viable and visible.”

Citizens for the Improvement of Costa Mesa, which held its first

public meeting last month, is dedicated to improving rundown areas

throughout the city, not just those on the Westside.

Some of the common opinions residents discuss in the daily e-mails --

which can number 50 some days -- to the online chat group include using

eminent domain to create more expensive housing on the Westside and

cracking down on illegal immigrants, a move some say would improve

property values, schools and the overall quality of life in Costa Mesa.

The group opposes a John Wayne Airport expansion and supports lowering

the city’s housing density, encouraging home ownership, rezoning the

bluffs from industrial to single-family residential use, encouraging

charities -- which the group sees as magnets for illegal immigrants -- to

include more social education, and eliminating the city’s “slums,”

Davidson said.

Joel Faris, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the City Council in

November, has joined the group, along with the Westside Improvement Assn.

and the Latino Community Network.

“CICM is aggressive and is really getting down to the nitty-gritty,”

he said. “They are trouble-shooters. When they see a problem, they go

after it right away.”

Jean Forbath, founder of Share Our Selves, said she thinks many

groups, including Citizens for the Improvement of Costa Mesa, ignore the

problems of people who rent apartments and can’t afford to own a home in

the city.

“They come forth with a very reasoned voice in public and yet I’m not

sure what their motives are,” she said. “The idea of getting rid of

multifamily housing in favor of single-family housing is just not

rational. There’s a great social need for more affordable housing. Where

are people going to live? There are organizations popping up that have an

influence and a voice, and that is to their credit. But I would hope they

would be less divisive, more uniting and willing to really look at Costa

Mesa as a whole community, not just homeowners.”

WESTSIDE IMPROVEMENT ASSN.

Getting people’s attention is something Westside Improvement Assn.

members consider their biggest accomplishment so far.

Egan said the group’s main tools are political. The group makes the

City Council and community members aware of its opinions by writing

letters and speaking at city meetings.

“One thing we’ve done more than anything else is to bring the Westside

issues into prominence,” Egan said. “Everybody is aware of it now, and I

don’t think a single City Council meeting goes by without someone talking

about it. The first step is raising consciousness, and I think we have

done that.”

The association, which formed last year, holds steering committee

meetings twice a month, once in the evening and once in the afternoon, to

make it easier for committee members to make at least one of them, Egan

said. The nine-member steering committee then sends information to

hundreds of residents on its e-mail and mailing lists, she said.

Faris said the group is like a turtle, with a slow, yet wise approach.

“It is working on great quality of life issues,” he said. “It is a

really wise group when it comes to long-term planning.”

Unlike some Westside organizations, the association concentrates

solely on the Westside.

“Those of us who live here think it is just a great place,” Egan said.

“It’s got the sea breeze, a diverse community, easy access to commercial

stuff on the Eastside and access to the freeway. It has great potential

and isn’t making good use of its potential.”

The issues have remained the same since the beginning, Egan said.

The group favors repairing streets, putting utilities underground,

eliminating graffiti, improving schools, improving commercial areas and

bringing homes and businesses up to the standards of city codes, she

said.

Co-chair Eric Bever said he would like to change the Westside’s stigma

of being the “bad part of town,” replace or move obsolete buildings,

change zoning to reduce irregular and nonconforming lots, improve

property values and add more single-family homes.

Paul Bunney, another member of the association, said he joined the

group to fight the “problems of a deteriorating community.”

“I see trash on the streets and a high density of people in

households,” he said. “I think there was a grass-roots rumbling out there

of people like me who were dissatisfied and wanted to do what they could

to make things better. I think that people are voicing their concerns and

making themselves heard.”

WALLACE AREA IMPROVEMENT GROUP

Eliminating gangs, drugs and graffiti were among the Wallace Area

Improvement Group’s first goals.

After victories against gang activity and drug use, the 44-member

group expanded its goals, although it still aims to curb graffiti, said

Cathy Waters, the group’s president.

Waters said the group in April decided to halt its work on the city’s

Westside planning efforts and instead focus on informing people about the

city’s $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction

of people who spray graffiti, as well as to urge the City Council to

study the possibility of a bridge on 19th Street and to oppose having a

city-sponsored effort to determine how residents want the city to

develop.

Six apartment owners and managers collaborated in 1989 to start the

Wallace Avenue Improvement Group, founded by directors Phil Morello and

David Salcido.

The group’s borders, once limited to Wallace and Pomona avenues, now

extend to 19th Street, Victoria Street, Placentia Avenue and Harbor

Boulevard.

According to a flier, the group created a campaign that resulted in

the city’s 24-hour graffiti paint-out policy, and also worked to create a

since-revised grocery cart ordinance, to increase lighting in the Palace

and Sterling alleys, to prohibit the use of pushcarts and to restrict

grocery trucks on their streets.

The Wallace Area Improvement Group is not officially collaborating

with other Westside organizations but encourages its members to attend

other meetings and to participate on the Citizens for the Improvement of

Costa Mesa chat group, Waters said.

“We’re apartment owners and managers, so we have a little bit of a

different interest from other groups, but we’re all for making the

Westside a better, safer place,” she said.

LATINO BUSINESS COUNCIL

The Latino Business Council’s mission to support Latino businesses

citywide has not changed since 1997, but the council has gone off in new

directions since work on the city’s Westside planning efforts dissolved

in November.

Its goals, revised in February, are to inform Latino businesses about

issues important to them and to build relationships between the council

and the Costa Mesa community through networking and social functions,

council secretary Bill Turpit said.

Save Our Youth founder Roy Alvarado collaborated with Daily Pilot

Publisher Tom Johnson, Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive and President

Ed Fawcett and El Ranchito Restaurant owner Maria Elena Avila to start

the Latino Leadership Council in late 1995.

Alvarado’s “vision was to find role models for kids he was working

with, who were predominantly Latino, so he was interested in Latino

businesses who could show their success and their ability to achieve

community success through education,” said Turpit, who also serves as

secretary for the Latino Community Network. “Also, this is a business

community that had been underrepresented in the chamber, so the chamber

was interested in reaching out specifically to Latino businesses. They

are significant members of the business community who have not

historically participated in the chamber’s activities.”

The council’s first meeting was held in early 1996, and Turpit said

Alvarado, who died that year after a long battle with cancer, asked him

to continue working on the group on his behalf.

Some of the first projects included publishing Que Pasa, a newsletter

to link the business and Latino communities; holding social mixers to

introduce the Latino community to civic, religious and school leaders;

and having its first City Council candidates forum.

The Latino Leadership Council, a Chamber of Commerce committee,

changed its name to the Latino Business Council in 1997 to reflect its

goal to focus more on business issues.

“We are involved with the Westside because that is where the

predominant Latino business center is,” Turpit said. “Our board members’

businesses are all on 19th Street at this point, so we are predominantly

represented by 19th Street businesses even though we are opening the

council up to all businesses.”

Fawcett said the council is important to the city because it serves as

an interface between businesses with owners of different ethnicities and

serves as a role model for other Latino business owners.

“Some of the [business council members] are very astute,” Fawcett

said. “They know where they’re going, they know how they’ve gotten there

and what they’ve had to do. They’re great potential resources and mentors

to other Latino business owners just getting off the ground.

“I would like to see [the council] provide some educational forums for

other business owners and effectively get them to come out and

participate.”

LATINO COMMUNITY NETWORK

The Latino Community Network, which formed in 1999 to try to resolve

key issues in the city’s Westside planning efforts, considers itself one

of the plan’s survivors.

“The city shelving the Westside plan has really caused the group to

rethink what its purpose is,” Turpit said.

But the many projects left up in the air when the city’s Westside

planning efforts were dropped has left the Latino Community Network with

plenty of work to fill the void.

Several new projects for the network are underway but under wraps,

Chairwoman Mirna Burciaga said.

“We’re really working on new projects, but we’re not ready to release

them yet,” she said. “We are trying to work on the redevelopment of Costa

Mesa. We’re trying to make a plan about how we can participate more.”

The network also plans to get involved in a community outreach center

that UC Irvine aims to open on the city’s Westside this summer, Burciaga

said.

Kris Day, a member of the group and an associate professor of the

university’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, is spearheading

the effort to open the center, which would give the Westside access to

the university’s research and resources.

Burciaga, also a member of the Latino Business Council board, said the

network’s focus has not changed since the plan fell apart.

“We are trying to bring unity between the Hispanic community and

supporters,” she said. “We want to be unified with other organizations

and to increase participation from our members and the rest of

community.”

The Latino Community Network’s name is not intended to exclude people

who are not Latino, Burciaga said.

“It is not that the group is made up of Hispanics,” she said. “The

group is here to help the Hispanic community.”

Faris said the group has been good about not making him feel like an

outsider.

“I don’t like race-based groups and I wish it wasn’t called the Latino

Community Network, but actually it includes different races,” he said.

“That group’s meeting was probably the best I’ve been to so far because

it did have Latinos and Anglos, and we had a great time. I wish they

would do more.”

The network includes representatives of the business community,

churches and faith groups, schools, youth organizations and service

organizations such as Families Costa Mesa.

The group now fills the niche the Latino Business Council filled

before 1997, when it decided to narrow its scope to business issues,

Turpit said.

The two groups have worked together on projects before and are

discussing the possibility of collaborating to get involved with

redevelopment on the Westside, he said.

COALITION OF AUTO REPAIR AND SERVICE PROFESSIONALS

The Coalition of Auto Repair and Service Professionals has been a

latent force since work on the city’s Westside planning efforts ended,

said Paul Frech, a member of the group and owner of C&F; Service and

Repair.

“Our group is an ad hoc group, formed only because of what was going

on with the Westside,” he said. “We’ve backed off on our efforts, but

we’re ready to step up to the plate as soon as the fire starts again.”

In 1999, the coalition formed to combat part of the city’s Westside

planning efforts that included encouraging the sale of auto shops and

other businesses on the Westside.

The coalition successfully opposed a proposed moratorium on new

automotive businesses on the Westside in December 1999 and continued to

voice its opinions at the city’s Westside planning meetings until

November.

Some of the steps the coalition advocated for the Westside included

widening 19th Street, putting utility wires underground, adding a grocery

store, choosing a non-ethnic color scheme to complement the industrial

style of the majority of the area’s buildings, unifying the automotive

business buildings with a logo and offering no-interest loans to help

people comply with the plan.

19TH TO THE BEACH

The dormant 19th to the Beach might be the group that has had the most

influence over the other Westside organizations.

Members of the Wallace Area Improvement Group, the Westside

Improvement Assn. and the Citizens for the Improvement of Costa Mesa

began their improvement group careers at 19th to the Beach, Chairman

Robert Graham said.

The organization, which began at least two years ago in an attempt to

get a bridge on 19th Street to cross the Santa Ana River, had about a

dozen members before it became inactive in November.

“We became dormant when the new City Council came in,” Graham said.

“It kind of seemed like we should wait until we got the [Santa Ana River

bridge study] to see what that said.”

The county is working on the study, expected to be released this

month, which will estimate the environmental effect a 19th Street bridge

would have on Costa Mesa and surrounding cities.

The debate about whether to eliminate the 19th Street bridge from

Orange County’s master plan has gone on for more than a decade. The

county won’t erase the bridge until all four adjoining cities agree.

Newport Beach officials favor the bridge, while both Costa Mesa and

Huntington Beach city councils are vehemently opposed. Fountain Valley is

considered a neutral party.

Graham said 19th to the Beach’s goal is to get the city to study

economic effects the bridge would have, as well.

“One of the specific goals of the City Council is to get the bridge

eliminated from the county’s master plan, but there is no basis for

that,” he said. “We’re just asking that they look at it fairly. Will it

benefit Costa Mesa? I think it will. I think a bridge would deal with all

the problems on the Westside that people talk about.”

Supporters of the bridge, including Waters, Morello and Bunney, think

a bridge could raise property values on the Westside.

“It will give residents instant and immediate access to the beach, it

will give businesses on 19th Street the traffic they need to expand and

prosper, and it will make the city a legitimate coastal town,” Graham

said.

But other residents are dead set against the bridge, saying it would

add unwanted traffic to 19th Street and the surrounding residential

streets.

“I’ve lived by busy streets before and I know what it’s like in terms

of quality of life,” resident Craig Peterson said. “I picked my

neighborhood because it is all quiet and, when I walk outside barefoot,

my feet don’t get black from pollution. I don’t want my daughter growing

up next to a busy street like Victoria. I moved from there to start a

family in a quiet, residential neighborhood.”

DIFFERENT FROM WITHIN

The groups are all different with opinions that reflect some of the

diversity on the Westside, but even within the groups there are

disagreements.

Members come from different backgrounds and have different

motivations, and many others involved with the Westside do not belong to

any of the organizations.

Next week, The Daily Pilot will look at some of the most active

individuals on the Westside -- who they are, what they want to accomplish

and how they are trying to reach their goals.