Time still an issue with Westside committee

Deirdre Newman

The road to consensus can be a long one.

That’s what some members of the Community Redevelopment Action

Committee rediscovered Thursday when a scheduled vote on recommended

actions for the Westside had to be postponed for lack of time.

The committee, which has shrunk from its original 80 members, has

been meeting since last June to create a blueprint for the Westside.

The frustration that erupted among some members about how long the

process was taking soon after the committee started was evident again

Thursday.

“If we had done what we’re doing tonight six months ago, I would

have felt much better about it,” Christian Eric said. “It’s a day

late and a dollar short.”

The Westside Redevelopment Action Committee was created in January

2002 by the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency. The

goal was to engage often warring factions of the community in an

effort to find common ground for the future of the neighborhood.

Previous attempts at redevelopment in the area, like the Westside

Specific Plan, have been thwarted by a lack of community consensus.

At last month’s meeting, the committee came up with a tentative

vision statement for the Westside, with adjectives such as physically

attractive, safe, socially vibrant, economically desirable and

accessible. The goal of Thursday’s meeting was to devise action

statements to achieve these attributes.

The statements created by the committee include:

* Have police check the ID of transients;

* Hire a police chief with a proven record in reducing crime;

* Rezone Placentia to “live-work”; and

* Establish a cap on the number of charities in Costa Mesa.

The last of these resulted in a boisterous round of applause.

While some have railed against the protracted nature of the

deliberations, other committee members say they appreciate the

lengthy process, because it illuminates varying perspectives on

issues.

“You continue to hear people explain why they think the way they

do,” Bill Turpit said. “You start to appreciate the different views

and I feel my views on certain things changing as I understand better

what people are talking about because I understand more clearly what

the proposal is or more about the need.”

At the next meeting, on April 24, members will get to add action

statements that haven’t been brought up already, and the committee is

expected to vote on the statements.