Steel aims for strength as chair

Lolita Harper

Property owners and city officials are hoping the new chairman of

the Redevelopment Agency can live up to his name, as it is going to

take a steely disposition to direct the contentious issues on the

group’s docket.

Members of the city’s Redevelopment Agency -- or the Costa Mesa

City Council wearing another hat -- unanimously elected Councilman

Chris Steel to lead the agency in the coming year.

Steel, who serves as mayor pro tem on the City Council, said he

was reluctant to accept the position because of the various

committees he serves on and multiple speaking engagements he has

agreed to. He said he had hoped to devote most of his spare time to

elevating the largely ceremonial mayor pro tem position by

representing the city at more functions than normal.

“I didn’t seek it and was hoping to kind of avoid it, but I’m it,

and you have to step up to the plate sometime,” Steel said.

Steel had initially nominated current chair Councilman Gary

Monahan to resume the leadership position, but Monahan declined the

nomination, saying his time at the helm was spent.

“I have been in that position for two terms and I have

accomplished what I set to do, which was to get the redevelopment

study rolling,” he said Tuesday. “It’s time for someone else to take

over.”

The agency was created in 1972 as a separate public entity that

may exercise its own governmental functions, city officials said. The

City Council serves as the board of directors of the agency and is

charged with revitalizing the physical and economic conditions within

the 195-acre Redevelopment Project Area.

Customarily, the mayor pro tem serves as the Redevelopment Agency

chair in order to practice for the assumed next step of being

appointed mayor. Following that tradition, Steel was voted to lead

the agency.

He has his hands full as the commander of the Redevelopment Agency

as the city cautiously moves closer to a political battle in trying

to revitalize the Westside. Costa Mesa is considering adding

territory to its 1973 redevelopment project, which includes many

industrial, commercial and residential properties on the Westside.

John Hawley, who owns Railmakers Inc. on West 18th Street, said he

doesn’t blame Steel for trying to sidestep the appointment.

“Who could look forward to taking over an agency that is facing a

major political battle with its effort to finance itself through

extended territories and redevelopment,” Hawley said. “It’s going to

be a tremendous fight and it is certainly going to take someone who

is able to expend a lot of time on it and take the heat.”

Steel said he plans to address the Westside in an unconventional

way. He wants to target the “magnets” -- the Job Center, various

charities and other entities that he claims promote the hiring of

illegal residents -- that have put the area in such disrepair in the

first place, Steel said.

Councilman Allan Mansoor, who won his council bid in large part

because he promised to improve the city, was elected as vice chairman

of the Redevelopment Agency.

“Just don’t mess with the Westside property owners,” Hawley

advised.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.