Westside activist plans council run

Deirdre Newman

Whether the City Council’s approval of a contentious housing project

at 1901 Newport Blvd. will lead to lawsuits or ballot measures is far

from clear.

At the least, though, it is beginning to fill out the field of

council candidates.

The decision so angered one activist, Mike Berry, that he said

he’s been inspired to declare his candidacy, which he had been

mulling over for a while. The council’s approval is just the latest

example of city leaders’ ignoring the will of the people, he said.

“There have been, in the last two to three years, a dozen major

issues that seriously affected Costa Mesa -- on every one of them,

the council has voted against the people,” the 58-year-old said.

After months of delay, the council approved the condominium plan

with 145 units, 415 parking spaces and a subsidy of about $1.5

million. The original project proposed 161 units and 415 parking

spaces.

Berry, a Westside activist, supported Councilman Allan Mansoor in

his successful council campaign. He is a member of the Westside

Improvement Assn., which tackles what members consider to be the

deteriorating quality of life in that part of town, and the Westside

Revitalization Oversight Committee, which is overseeing the council’s

implementation of the recommendations made by the Community

Redevelopment Action Committee.

He is a frequent speaker at City Council meetings and recently

persuaded the city to reexamine how it will replace a fence along the

Joann Street bike trail.

Another issue that Berry thinks city leaders handled poorly is the

decision of whether to add a 400-plus acre chunk to the downtown

redevelopment zone. The council -- acting as the Redevelopment Agency

-- opted to redevelop a much smaller portion of the commercial

corridor along 19th Street between Maple Street and Federal Avenue,

as well as five parcels to the south of the major thoroughfare.

Berry accused city leaders of not adding a larger portion to the

zone because they would rather spend redevelopment funds on the 1901

Newport project. The agency offered Rutter a $1.5-million subsidy to

lower the density for the modified project that was approved.

“Had they expanded the redevelopment area, they not only would

have received additional income, they would have spent additional

income to redevelop,” Berry said. “But they didn’t want to do that.

They wanted to spend it on this project.”

He also doesn’t think the city is trying hard enough to create

homeownership opportunities for residents. He was one of the vocal

opponents against the city providing land at a cheap price to Habitat

for Humanity for its development at 1925 Pomona Ave.

“We had six new homes that were built, and no one from Costa Mesa

got one of those homes,” Berry said.

He said he would have liked to see the Redevelopment Agency make

an effort to ensure the low-income units required for the 1901

Newport project be reserved for city residents.

“This is the redevelopment agency, and they have different laws

and different ways they can set this property aside, and whether they

can do it or not, they’re not trying,” Berry said. “Because they’re

not trying, we’ll never know if they can.”

The city’s handling of CenterLine is another issue that riles

Berry.

“No one that I have talked to wants this train running through the

city, but the City Council approved it,” Berry said. “They did not

have an agendized public hearing for the city of Costa Mesa.”

All these examples illustrate an unhealthy trend toward

“uncontrolled urbanization,” Berry said.

“It’s happening in all of Southern California -- all the cities

are going through the same thing, but some of the cities are managing

it better than others,” Berry said. “My personal feeling is that

Costa Mesa is allowing situations to occur that foster this but

aren’t controlled.”

Kathleen and Christian Eric, who have worked with Berry on

improving the Westside, said his background in finance and management

and dedication would qualify him well for the council.

“I am disappointed in the direction that the current council is

going in respect to 1901 Newport and concur with Mike Berry’s

viewpoint that we need less density, less traffic and better parking

for this project,” Kathleen Eric said. “I think that he will stick to

the spirit of the general plan in a way that will give Costa Mesans a

higher quality of life.

“Mike does his research and homework and is the kind of person who

asks the hard questions,” she said. “We need that in a councilman to

arrive at the good answers.”