The new kid on the dais

When Westside resident Allan Mansoor won a seat on the City

Council in the Nov. 5 election, it meant that he had defeated

incumbent Mayor Linda Dixon -- not exactly an easy task.

But those who backed Mansoor were those who had supported

Councilman Chris Steel’s 2000 campaign, which he won after several

failed attempts. Now, with another Westside supporter on the council,

it would appear more attention will be given to that side of town’s

redevelopment.

A couple of weeks ago, City Editor James Meier sat down with

Mansoor at his Westside home to discuss his election upset, as well

as his history in Costa Mesa, the airport situation and the Community

Redevelopment Action Committee designed to help the Westside.

How long have you been involved in Costa Mesa city happenings?

I started speaking up when I first bought this house [in 1995] and

realized what some of the problems were on the Westside, some of the

noise issues and trash issues.

Where did you grow up in Costa Mesa?

When I was in high school, I was living in Mesa Verde. I did later

live on the Eastside for a while, so I’ve lived in all parts of Costa

Mesa.

What first sparked your interest?

A city that was non-responsive to cleaning up the community and

doing what it should be doing. A city that needed to get back to the

basics of good city government. I saw them focusing on what I believe

are all the wrong issues.

When I moved into this house, I realized what it was really like

to live on the Westside. Having lived in Mesa Verde and on the

Eastside, I can honestly say the Westside is different, and you have

to live here to understand it.

Now, since your involvement began seven years ago, has much

changed at all in the city?

Well, with this last election, I guess you might see some

different things. I can’t say a whole lot has changed on the

Westside. Nothing substantial, in my opinion.

Did your win last week surprise you at all?

I fully thought I had the ability to win, but I didn’t know what

the outcome would be. In my opinion, it could have gone in any

direction. I knew it would be close, but I was very happy.

Now that you’ll be joining the council, what will be some of your

first priorities?

I want to focus on all of the things that I said I would focus on.

I think initially I’m going to get acquainted with all of the ins and

outs of how the city operates and try to truly understand it. But

certainly there are going to be airport issues, traffic issues, all

the Westside issues. I’ll definitely bring those up. The budget --

that kind of includes pretty much every issue right there.

You beat Mayor Linda Dixon by about 500 votes. What message do you

think the voters were sending to the City Council?

I think they were saying that they want leadership on airport

issues, they want leadership on true cleanup of the Westside, and I

think they were saying they want leadership on traffic- and

development-related issues.

How long do you plan to be on the council?

I made a commitment to four years. I will commit to that.

Earlier this year, you were very involved with the Concerned Costa

Mesa Citizens group that supported Councilman Chris Steel’s election

in 2000. Are you still very involved with it?

Well, that was sort of a loose-knit group with no official

membership or anything like that. My focus now will be to focus on my

obligations as a councilman.

You’ll probably have to step down from the Costa Mesa Human

Relations Committee.

Yes, I believe so. And the CRAC committee.

What can be done to help the Community Redevelopment Action

Committee, would you say?

It was too big to start with, and there was no clear direction for

it. It was almost as if it was designed to fail.

What’s come out of those meetings so far?

I don’t know that anything clear has come out of it at this point.

But again, the campaign took a lot of time, and I did miss the last

one or two meetings because of that. One of the debates was on the

same night as one of the CRAC meetings.

Again, my focus is going to be on the City Council end of these

things.

Early on, will you try change that committee to get it going?

I may. There are a lot of things that are already in place from

past council decisions, and the city does not turn on a dime. So, if

that issue comes up before the City Council, I will be willing to

address it. As to what specifics, I’m not sure yet.

I have seen how some of these committees are not all that

effective. The bottom line is the City Council has to show leadership

on making good decisions. No matter what goes on in this city, it all

boils down to the City Council.

How do you think leadership will change once you’re on the

council?

For one thing, you will see a really proactive stand on leadership

issues for the airport. Traffic is a major issue with development.

And there are some real issues with the Westside that have not been

addressed. I’ll leave it at that.

Now you mentioned there would be a more proactive stance on the

airport. Would that be John Wayne or El Toro?

Things are obviously not looking good for El Toro, but I don’t

know that it’s completely dead yet. But it’s certainly not looking as

good as it once was. We certainly did miss some golden opportunities.

So until that issue’s completely dead, I’m going to do what I can to

support it.

And with your arrival on the City Council, it would appear there

will be a 3-2 majority on taking a stand on the airport. Do you think

that’s the case, as well?

I think it’s fair to say that that’s likely, but again, I don’t

know how others will vote on specific issues.

Do you have any final thoughts?

I’m looking forward to getting started.

How long ago did you decide to run for City Council? Did you

contemplate it the last election in 2000?

It wasn’t something that crossed my mind the last election. I ran

because I didn’t really see anybody else stepping up to the plate as

far as really tackling these issues. But I certainly made it an

option to people I know that I would have supported them had they

wanted to run, but it seemed that nobody else wanted to. So I

decided, “OK, I’ll run.”