Charities’ harm to city a forum topic
Deepa Bharath
Whether the charities that serve the community are actually
“magnets” for illegal immigrants and people living beyond the city’s
limits was one of several hot topics City Council candidates debated
at a forum Wednesday night.
Allan Mansoor, who during the campaign has repeatedly stressed
that charities act as magnets for nonresidents, suggested that the
city no longer financially support the organizations.
“I believe charities should be privately funded,” he said. “They
have more accountability that way.”
Mansoor added that the city has been misdirecting its funds to
charitable operations instead of attending to more immediate needs,
such as cleaning up neighborhoods, fixing streets and striving for
better law enforcement. He said programs such as the Job Center in
Lion’s Park have attracted “people out of jail” to city neighborhoods
and have contributed to the loitering problem.
Mayor Linda Dixon pointed out that she does not look at the Job
Center as a charity but as a city-run program.
“The City Council can make certain and have meetings with
directors [of the charities] and encourage them to be respectful in
the community,” she said.
Other candidates agreed that most problems relating to charities
are mostly “management issues.”
“The true magnets are absentee slumlords who don’t reinvest in the
community,” said Katrina Foley, who chairs the Planning Commission.
In response to a question about the growing Latino population in
the city, Planning Commissioner Bill Perkins said “Costa Mesa
shouldn’t be recognized as Eastside or Westside, it should be one
Costa Mesa for all.”
“Being bilingual is good,” he said. “Putting Spanish on TV is
good. We should encourage children to learn a second language.”
Councilman Gary Monahan said the City Council “must treat
everybody with dignity.”
“I have the same concerns for everybody,” he said. “I want all our
lives to be better.”
Dixon said she would like to see more involvement from the Latino
community. She noted there was a Latino-focused forum last week and
said the community as a whole is reaching out to the Latino
population.
Candidates also responded to a question relating to their plans
for Costa Mesa’s Westside.
Foley said the biggest problem is that “the city failed to invest
in its own property and failed to address the concerns of its
citizens.”
“Citizens there are pitted against one another and they are
blaming each other for their problems,” she said.
Foley said she would like to see a large community center and
grocery store on 19th Street, which she referred to as the “gateway
to the Westside.”
Mansoor returned to his focus on charities, saying they are the
biggest problem on the Westside and attract the wrong kind of people
to the neighborhood.
“Things go on around those charities,” he said. “There are
potholes on the streets and the medians are not landscaped.”
Perkins said the key is to “redevelop the Westside.”
“We need to work with the community,” he said. “We need to
reestablish the Fish Fry and encourage more after-school programs.”
Dixon said she would like to “see the Westside move forward.”
“We need to have more mixed-use housing and protect our downtown,”
she said.
Monahan said it is important that the community realize that the
City Council is working “for and with” residents, not against them.
“The staff should work with the community,” he said. “And as a
city, we need to keep our unique personality and character.”
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