Q&A; with Mayor Linda Dixon -- Taking over the city’s reins

After serving the last year as Costa Mesa’s vice mayor, longtime

resident Linda Dixon made the progression to becoming the mayor this

month with a unanimous vote from her City Council colleagues.

On Tuesday morning, Dixon sat down with Assistant City Editor James

Meier to discuss her goals as mayor, her 2002 reelection campaign,

community volunteerism, the Home Ranch project and pet projects such as

the Huscroft House and Noguchi’s California Scenario.

Q: What are your goals in your one-year term as mayor?

A: My goals are rather simple: to encourage productive interaction

among the council members and to foster positive communications between

the council and the community.

Q: Is working with the council difficult these days?

A: I think that we each have our own opinions, and we’re certainly not

shy about sharing them. And I think with two new council people who

hadn’t served in public office before, everything just takes time. This

is a very caring council. I think they really, truly care about the Costa

Mesa community. And my intention is for us to work together to make Costa

Mesa the best that it can be.

Q: In your acceptance speech as mayor, you mentioned wanting to

promote volunteerism. How do you propose doing that?

A: Obviously, when you list my community activities, you’ll see that

volunteerism is an important part of my life. There’s a tremendously

satisfying feeling from helping others and, as a volunteer, I have raised

funds for soccer teams, baked cookies, worked on cleaning up the Back

Bay, planting trees, reading to children, and that’s just to name a few.

I believe it’s everyone’s civic duty to give back to their community.

And I hope to encourage residents to be involved in city activities,

committees and commissions. Additionally, I’ve read that people who

volunteer are happier people and they have a tendency to live longer. And

I intend to live longer.

Q: What are your proudest accomplishments in your first term as a

councilwoman?

A: Well, I don’t have a particular proud moment. I’d rather refer to

some actions that I think have benefited the community.

The group home ordinance. I attended a meeting in San Jose a while

back and spoke with the San Jose attorney and learned about their group

home ordinance, which had much more teeth than ours did. And as an

outcome of a lengthy discussion with that attorney, I was able to connect

our attorney with San Jose and, as a result, Costa Mesa has one of the

most comprehensive ordinances in the state. People in our community have

to remember that local government has very little to say about group

homes in their neighborhood since they’re controlled by state and federal

laws.

Another point I’d like to recognize is changing the city’s motto to

“city of the arts.” We are the city of the arts, and we should claim that

title. I’m proud to be home to the Orange County Performing Arts Center,

South Coast Repertory Theater, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and a host

of other theater groups, such as the Drama Lab at OCC and Costa Mesa

Civic Playhouse, and the new Trilogy Theater. And my hope is that Costa

Mesa will have a greater presence in the visual arts someday soon --

while I’m around anyway.

Another area is 17th Street. I helped eliminate the possibility of

widening 17th Street. It’s a shopping area, and it needs to be

pedestrian-friendly. And I hope to work with the business and homeowners

as part of this Eastside traffic study to make the streets easy to walk

down to get to other stores. There’s a lot of remodeling going on. It’s

looking great. I would like to see landscaping, benches, a fountain or

two.

And I would like to look at the possibility of shared parking among

the businesses so that people can park at one location and feel free to

walk to other stores along the street and not feel the need to get back

in their car and have to drive back down 17th Street.

Another very proud moment for me is the Noguchi gardens. I believe

they are a treasure. It’s an educational park, and it’s a unique art

landscape that was created by a world-renowned artist. And Noguchi

continues to be recognized by more and more people internationally, which

means more and more people will be coming to Costa Mesa to see this

treasure right here in our city.

Another one of my accomplishments is helping to reduce the number of

homes in the Standard Pacific project at Mesa Verde and Adams from, I

believe it was over 100, down to 62, and encouraging the developer to

increase the open space, the number of trees on the site and to put in a

bus stop so we didn’t stop traffic along Adams Street.

I like the Huscroft House, obviously. I think it’s an important piece

of Costa Mesa history. I realize it was moved here from Santa Ana in

1954, but that’s 47 years ago, and that’s a long time considering we’re a

city that’s only 48 years old. I think the Huscroft House is a fine

example of Craftsman-style architecture. It is made of redwood, and it

has a beautiful mantle inside; it has claw-foot tub; it has stained

glass. And I think by renovating the house, we can give our young people

a chance to step back in time when they visit the place.

I think our historical preservation committee came up with some

wonderful ideas on how the house could benefit the community. I held a

meeting to get community input, and I was very pleased and surprised to

find that about 40 people took time to attend the meeting and, of course,

not all of them left with enthusiasm about the house, but many left

thinking that this would be a great community project and it would pull

the community together. I think what’s important to me is to be a

well-rounded community, we need activities and places with a wide range

of interest. We need to fix the potholes, but we also need things for our

spirit as well.

I think it could be a museum for children to visit. I think it could

be a meeting place. I think it could be both of those things. I think it

could be an interpretive center. I think it has many, many possibilities.

And I hate to see a piece of our past, since we have so little,

bulldozed.

Q: What are some of the issues you’ll highlight in your reelection

campaign next year?

A: That Costa Mesa is a great place to live, shop and own a business.

I think we have the best of all worlds. We have challenges, but we’re not

alone. Other cities have challenges too. I’m in strong support of changes

on our Westside. I’m one of those people who never did understand how an

industrial area could be so close to the ocean, and that was one of the

things that I inquired about when I first moved to Costa Mesa and when I

first started serving on the Planning or the Transportation commission. I

was amazed by that.

I want all the residents to take pride in this city, so I hope to

encourage residents and business owners to clean up and beautify their

properties. I think strong communities need residents and businesses that

work together for the common good of everyone. And I want our

neighborhoods to be safe and attractive. And I think they complement

attractive and well-run businesses.

And I think it’s important that I was elected by the voters throughout

the city to represent all of Costa Mesa, and I want people to know that

all of Costa Mesa is important to me. I get upset when individuals throw

cheap shots and say, “You don’t live on my side of town so you really

don’t care,” because nothing could be farther from the truth. I do care.

That’s why I’m trying so hard to be accessible to the community. I want

to hear their concerns, and I want to work to make things better.

Q: Did the Home Ranch project turn out to your liking?

A: Home Ranch is a quality project that will be good for Costa Mesa. I

believe that the negative aspects have been mitigated. I would not

support residential land next to the L.A. Times building. After spending

considerable time at the L.A. Times and learning about the operation and

the 24-7 schedule, I firmly believe the land next to that building should

be zoned industrial, not residential.

Q: Being a College Park resident, do you think you lost any supporters

with your Home Ranch approval?

A: I’m certain that I’ve won some supporters and lost some supporters.

Long-term, I think people realize when I vote, I weigh what I think is

best for the community and reflect the community consensus, and I vote to

make changes that will help make Costa Mesa a better place to live.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: I’m proud to live in Costa Mesa and to be elected mayor of the

city. The people are friendly, caring and good. We have great shopping,

great parks, youth athletics and a variety of community programs. We have

the South Coast Repertory Theater, the Orange County Performing Arts

Center, Orange Coast College and the fairgrounds. We’re close to the

beach. We have excellent freeway access, corporate business headquarters.

We’re soon to have our second community garden. And we’re eclectic enough

to have a little something for everyone’s tastes.

I’d like to say that I think the Westside of Costa Mesa is an

important, beautiful area, and it deserves revitalization and attention,

and I will work to help lead the process that will accomplish a positive

change. I hope we can create a master plan for our Westside and we can

prioritize the problems and create a timeline for each proposed

renovation area. My goal would be to create an effective, interactive

partnership between residents, businesses and City Hall.

BIO

* Years in Costa Mesa: More than 25 years

* Family: Husband of 26 years, Mike; children Andrew, Adam and Cara;

boxers Greta and Sammy; cats Augie and Lulu; and desert tortoises Barney,

Elvira and Tex

* Education: Morton College in Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Art,

School of the Art Institute of Chicago and UC Irvine

* Community involvement: Council liaison to the historical

preservation committee, cultural arts committee, senior center, Costa

Mesa Tourism Council, Eastside Traffic Study Group, Reading for Costa

Mesa and anything else requested of her

* Hobbies: Gardens and garage sales