A freedom-loving resident

When the Costa Mesa Planning Commission and City Council began

reworking an ordinance restricting recreational vehicle parking late

last year, resident Bill Folsom, who uses his RV as his only mode of

transportation, became involved to help the city craft the law.

Though that compromise has been reached, Folsom continues to attend

city meetings to assist the process on other issues, including a

proposal that would allow the city to dictate how homeowners use

their backyards.

On Friday, City Editor James Meier visited the city mechanic in

his RV as he ate lunch from nearby El Campion.

It didn’t seem like you popped up on the radar as much in the

Daily Pilot until December, when the recreational vehicle issue came

up?

Yeah, it was after the first meeting, but I had been active in

this city, politically and on those issues -- even the RV issue years

ago when it surfaced a couple of times before and had people writing,

calling and showing up at the meetings. But this was the first time

the RV ordinance actually made it onto the agenda, so obviously we

had to be more public about it and organize people to speak at City

Council meetings.

What got me motivated this time was we didn’t expect -- we knew

they were considering an ordinance -- they would discuss it until the

summer. When it came up, suddenly, in the middle of December -- when

everyone was on Christmas vacation -- a lot of people were mad

because the timing seemed to be when it would get less opposition. It

may have been pure coincidence, but that’s what a lot of people

thought. And how restrictive it was really took a lot of people by

surprise.

Having discussed this problem in the past, most people were of the

opinion that it was a problem. We couldn’t figure out what the real

problem was and why they couldn’t enforce the current rules, as

difficult as it may be to enforce them. We knew there was a small

number of people complaining, but for the small number of complaints

and the extent of the problem, we thought that the ordinance they

were proposing was extremely restrictive.

And, as you saw, at that second meeting, I think we almost got 300

people to show up. The people you see who are the problem are just

such a minute part of the whole and the ordinance that they proposed

affected thousands of people negatively. And since there were

complaints from less than a tenth that amount of people, people were

bummed because it affected thousands of people and their families.

They were upset. They were very upset.

Now those who may have been the actual problem who sparked

neighbors to call, etc., were they as involved in this issue as you

were?

Well, I believe there were a couple of them that are, quote, the

problem, that spoke at City Hall meetings, but by and large, of the

original 300 people, probably 2% to 3% were problem people. That’s my

opinion.

It depends who you talk to. Some people who park in the street for

an hour to load their sleeping bags are considered problem people by

some people. I don’t consider them problem people.

I consider the problem people who are those who leave them for

weeks to months at a time and don’t use them. They’re sort of stored

there.

What do you think of the final result?

It’s still going to affect some people negatively, but I think the

City Council really went a long way to come to a fairly decent

compromise. I think it’s going to work for most people. And it

should, without a doubt, resolve the problems that they wanted to

address.

Did you take any heat, being that you’re a city employee, for

speaking up against the city on this issue?

Well, we weren’t speaking against City Hall. We obviously didn’t

have any voice when it came to writing the ordinance in the first

place. We were just advocating for the RV people. We weren’t against

City Hall. We just wanted to make our views known.

I really haven’t taken any heat on that. I’m a resident of Costa

Mesa and people haven’t really made that an issue. There are some

people who have cornered me, saying why would want that blight on our

street, but it’s all been in terms of me being a resident, not a city

employee.

And I work with [Lt.] Karl [Schuler], the guy who wrote the

ordinance -- and we tease each other about it -- but he’s got his job

to do and I understand that. We’ll be the brunt of each other’s jokes

for years to come, I’m sure. It was also Karl’s first exposure in

writing an ordinance and dealing with City Council. I think he did a

real professional job.

Now, you’ve also been involved for years with the skate park

issue.

Well, yeah, especially through my kids -- not to the extent of

somebody like [skate park activist and skateboard company owner] Jim

Gray, but always pushing for that. I’ve been asked my opinion by

staff of the city about that because I’ve been a skateboarder for

40-some years now and I still skateboard everyday.

That’s just one of a number of issues that we have in Costa Mesa

that we’re trying to form a coalition between the groups -- the

RVers, skateboarders, hot-rodders -- because these are issues that

constitute what we think is the real culture of Costa Mesa -- this

sort of laid-back, outdoors, creative-type, eclectic people. Those

issues the city should have embraced a long time ago have been put on

the backburner, and instead a lot of people are really concerned this

city is sort of headed down the road to a South County clone-type

city where everybody’s house looks the same.

It’s just a shame that those things haven’t been addressed. We

should have at least two skateboard parks in Costa Mesa right now.

There’s places to put them that would have minimal impact on people.

If we’re going to be in the business of providing recreation,

skateboarding is certainly one of them. You have a certain amount of

baseball players, football players and soccer players. Most of those

kids are skateboarders, plus five times more than that are

skateboarders. So you have this huge population that’s been not just

ignored, but have seen laws passed where you can’t skateboard in a

lot of places. And you have no facilities provided for you.

Like Jim Gray says, about 30% of the world’s skateboards are made

here in Costa Mesa and we’re one of the last cities to have a skate

park. It’s crazy the city hasn’t embraced that culture. The hotrod

culture’s the same way. We have some upcoming events based on the

hotrod culture -- rod runs, Run for the Cure for prostate cancer.

There are huge events that we should be celebrating here because this

is one of the localities where that hotrod culture starts. And it’s

always been a hotbed of that culture, just like surfing,

skateboarding. For some reason, we’ve missed all the opportunities to

embrace that and really use that to our advantage. It’s a worldwide

thing and we’re the hub of that here, but there’s no mention of Costa

Mesa. There’s no promotion of those things.

Another thing I can throw in there is the Speedway we have every

Saturday night. We’ve crowned several world champions here in Costa

Mesa, but what do they get? They get hassled and made to feel like

they’re not welcomed here. It’s something that brings in people and

could bring in a lot more. Afterward, they’ll frequent places in the

city. Or before, for dinner or whatever. It should an event that

we’re proud of.

We lost the Pacific Amphitheatre for the same reason that the RV

and hotrod issues came up. It was a very small number of people

complaining about a small number of incidents, but then they make

ordinances that affect everybody. We had a world-class venue there at

the Pacific Amphitheatre. Hopefully, it’ll be coming back soon, but

we let that get away from us. I thought it was great asset to Costa

Mesa.

In dealing with all of these different issues, we’re hoping to

form a coalition to address Costa Mesa as a center for these things.

One of the phrases that keeps coming up is “No-Fun Mesa.” That’s what

a lot of people call Costa Mesa because it seems like if it’s fun or

addresses any kind of youth culture, somebody complains and we get an

ordinance passed against it even though it’s a small number of people

complaining and a huge number negatively affected. It’s become sort

of a trend. I think you’ll see, as time goes by, these voices getting

louder to address these issues.

Also, the OCC swap meet, which we used to frequent, especially on

Sundays. Narrowing it down to one day a week was really a hardship.

There were minor oversights by city and college officials, you know,

with traffic, and it’s really had an impact on patrons and sellers

not to have that extra day. A lot more people miss it than don’t miss

it, from my standpoint. The swap meet at the fairgrounds and the one

at OCC are two different swap meets.

Concerts in the Park are great. But we’re missing the Fish Fry. A

lot of people would like to see that return. Lions Club wouldn’t be

able to pull that off because of membership issues. But maybe a

coalition of groups could do that and locate it at Fairview Park. The

OCC swap meet and Fish Fry were very much part of the community

spirit around here

There are a lot of other issues I’m involved in, obviously

involved in the political campaign for City Council this year. I’m

going through the city trying to find what people’s issues are. The

whole Westside business community feels it’s being kicked around.

Because it’s the Westside and we should have million-dollar houses

over there, and that may be, but they’re being made to feel like

they’re outsiders even though they’ve been our lifeblood. They built

their businesses and worked their hearts out over there and now

they’re being made to feel they’re not welcome. And that’s a real

shame. There’s an easy cure to the problem; it doesn’t have to be as

complicated as everybody’s making it.

The same with the Hispanic culture. We have not embraced their

contributions like we should. I mean, we live in a place called Costa

Mesa. We’ve just focused on the negative aspects and not the positive

aspects, of which there are many. One of them is right here, [my

lunch is] from a little grocery store down the street. It’s where we

eat every day -- El Campion. Another one is Wahoo’s. That’s a great

example of the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Costa Mesa. We

should take ownership of that stuff.

Our columnist Byron de Arakal once called you a “red-blooded,

freedom-loving Costa Mesan.” What were your thoughts on that?

I thank him for that. I think that freedom is really being sold

cheaply these days. We have people, because the color of someone’s

house or a chain-link fence in front of it, who want ordinances

because of their tastes and they’re willing to sell that freedom. I

think it’s dangerous down the road. How far government has gone:

First the curb, then it was the front yard, now it’s in the backyard.

It can only get worse unless people say enough is enough. My line

would be drawn at the curb. Many would disagree with me on that.

Neighbors to neighbors is the best way to deal with most problems.

Without that, you lose a lot of community.

You mentioned the backyards. Are you going to make that issue a

top priority as well?

Well, I’ve been talking to Mitch Barrie and the Costa Mesa RV

Assoc. has really connected with the Costa Mesa Cruisers. It’s coming

up on the agenda. What Mitch has told me is they’ve worked out a

modification of the ordinance that basically goes back to the city

staff’s first proposal. To me, it’s a huge compromise on the

Cruisers’ part, so I’ll support them on that. Hopefully, like it did

on the RV issue, I hope the City Council will see that it’s very

reasonable on Mitch’s part and pass that. I’ll make a point of that.

I think when the Planning Commission passed that, they didn’t see the

unintended negative consequences it would have on a number of people.

This modification will affect compromise.