Costa Mesa has reached a crossroads

Thanks, Gary. Now council, let’s get to work (“Monahan will seek

new term,” July 11).

We all know another council term was an enormous amount to ask and

we’re appreciative Councilman Monahan was able to hear our plea amid

the rising din of family and restaurant demands. But we never

doubted; the good ones always find a way to find the time to serve.

So, now that we all have a reasonably strong idea of who a simple

majority of next term’s Costa Mesa council members will be, maybe

this City Council can finally set aside its differences to work for

Costa Mesa’s greater good. (The jury’s out on Councilman Chris Steel,

and while I believe Mayor Linda Dixon has tried, she has clearly

shown she’s not up to our considerable challenges.)

Costa Mesa’s at a crossroads and the clearest evidence is the

school performance of Monahan’s constituency: the “blue collar,

ordinary folks.” Don’t these families deserve the opportunity to

receive a great education? It’s disingenuous for the council to

ignore the severity of our school problem or the uniqueness of our

opportunity. There is no question that council has a direct

responsibility to support academic improvement. And there’s no

question Home Ranch provides us a single chance to pull all the

needed resources together to develop an eight-year plan to improve

our schools to be among the best in the state. Our schools,

nonprofits, fraternal groups and community volunteers have been doing

their darndest, but cannot do it without council leadership.

I offered to find at least double-matching funds to start the

effort if the city would direct just $500,000 annually of its

$1.5-million annual Home Ranch revenue to academic improvement

programs of its choice. Residents very clearly told council we

supported Home Ranch because it would provide for much needed, but

underfunded programs. Dixon defended the city’s responsibility to

support Costa Mesa kids after council’s recent vote to dramatically

increase city recreational programs (with no matching funds). Come

on, council: don’t Costa Mesa kids deserve greater educational

opportunities more than they deserve city-sponsored birthday parties?

The council has been derelict in not developing the city’s

relationship with the Segerstrom family. They are not only Costa

Mesa’s greatest resource, they are its greatest supporter. Steel

recognized their importance to our future when, during the Home Ranch

approval process, he pleaded for their continued involvement with the

city, long after they’ve won their last needed city approval. There’s

no better time to nurture this relationship than now. The Home Ranch

Development Agreement calls for the city, with the cooperation of the

Segerstroms and schools, to select an existing or new foundation(s)

to ensure the educational endowment proceeds will be used as

accorded. Costa Mesa has existing foundations capable of working with

our Parent-Teacher Assns. and schools to fairly disburse the annual

funds (about $22 per student), so the only reason to discuss a new

foundation(s) is to look to the future. Costa Mesa’s one hope to

dramatically improve our schools is to enlist the Segerstrom family’s

assistance to help us organize and explore our opportunity to raise

the enormous additional funds and community backing we’ll need.

So, please council, let’s get together on this while the

opportunity exists. It does no one any good for the council to voice

its opinions contrary to the development agreement; both the

Segerstroms and the city signed it. It’s time for you to lead, not

further divide us. Take the time to do a little homework and you’ll

see that we need only one foundation with a very prestigious Board of

Directors whose job will be to organize, enlist wide support and

raise enormous funds. Your real challenge is to enlist a Segerstrom

principal to participate on a blue-ribbon foundation to unify all

constituencies to the task. All you have to remember is: Costa Mesa

is a great place to live and we deserve great schools.

There’s a lot more evidence that Costa Mesa’s at a crossroads,

needing of strong council leadership. One urgent need is for the City

Council, as the Redevelopment Agency, to rethink its approach for the

Westside (along with its subcommittee of 70). I’d like to see you

just say oops, before the process evolves into another protracted and

expensive fiasco like the last Westside plan. The Westside needs help

now, not in 20 years.

Any viable solution for our schools and the Westside, must begin

with city leadership, passionate to the opportunity to unite all

constituencies to make Costa Mesa a better place to live and raise

families. There’s no better time to start than now.

* DOUG SUTTON is a Costa Mesa resident.