CITY NEWS:Budget aims for safer streets, better fields

Let me first express appreciation on behalf of the City Council for the opportunity to update Daily Pilot readers on issues of interest to the Costa Mesa community. There is a great deal going on in our city, and it is a challenge to get as much information as possible out to the public.

In this column, I would like to focus on recent actions of the City Council in adopting the municipal budget for the coming year.

Although many think of the budget as strictly a financial document, it is just as much a policy statement on the city’s priorities. This is clearly the case with the budget just approved by the City Council that addresses the following key areas of interest to the community.

Public Safety

In a continuation of the City Council’s priority to make Costa Mesa even safer, the new city budget focuses on retaining and attracting the best and brightest for the police department, adding two police officers, expanding support for the Gang Unit and increasing disaster-preparedness training for Costa Mesa residents.

The city will continue its recently expanded partnership with the District Attorney’s office and Orange County Probation as well as state and regional law enforcement agencies in targeting gang activity and career criminals. Public safety represents a little more than 50 cents of every dollar expended by the city.

Street and Parkway Improvements

Continuing a multiyear effort to ease traffic congestion and rehabilitate area streets, parkways, alleys and sidewalks, the city has committed more than $6.5 million to this effort in the coming year.

Drawing from a variety of financial resources, Costa Mesa residents will see significant improvements in this area over the next year. Will it be enough to repair all the city’s streets and add enough capacity to area streets and freeways to avoid congestion?

The honest answer is “no.” But the program for the coming year will build on the strong effort of the past several years to bring all public improvements up to the level expected by the public.

Community Recreational Facilities

In response to the growing need for recreational facilities for a healthy community, the adopted budget looks at both the present and the future. The shorter-term improvements are those closest to home — neighborhood park upgrades and improvements.

The City Council has also approved efforts to connect our parks and open space with multipurpose trails, such as Fairview Channel Trail for cyclists, joggers and those just out for a walk.

Building on the success of the Volcom Skate Park of Costa Mesa in TeWinkle Park, funding for design of a second skate park is included in the new budget.

And with the cooperation of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the city is embarking on a master planning effort at various schools to provide not only quality sports facilities for the student athlete, but for community use as well.

For more information as to how your tax dollars are used, go to www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us — it’s all there. Or feel free to call me at (714) 754-5328.