4 Costa Mesa council candidates find a lot of common ground at forum
A stage at the Neighborhood Community Center wasn’t the only thing Costa Mesa City Council candidates shared Wednesday night.
During a two-hour question-and-answer session, they shared their thoughts about several issues facing the city. In many cases, they had similar perspectives.
Only four of the seven candidates running for the three council seats up for grabs in the Nov. 8 election attended the forum, which was sponsored by Mesa Verde Community Inc., a local homeowners association.
Those present were three Mesa Verde residents — Councilwoman Sandy Genis, former councilman and retired pharmaceutical distribution executive Jay Humphrey and business litigation attorney John Stephens — and State Streets resident Al Melone, a retired certified public accountant.
Not in attendance were Mayor Steve Mensinger, who is running for a second term, former state legislator and Costa Mesa mayor Allan Mansoor and Eastside resident Lee Ramos, a member of the city’s Senior Commission.
“I apologize to you all that not all the candidates were here,” forum moderator Mary Hornbuckle, a former Costa Mesa mayor and current vice president of the Coast Community College District board of trustees, told the crowd of about 120. “I don’t think we ask any scary questions.”
The candidates who did attend found plenty of common ground. In some cases, the candidates applauded one another’s answers.
All four said they believe Fairview Park should be preserved as natural open space and that the city should do more to crack down on the use of illegal fireworks.
They also raised issues with the council’s plan to move to voting districts, which was approved on a 3-2 vote in July.
Local voters will decide this fall whether to adopt the plan, which would split Costa Mesa into six voting districts. Residents in each district would elect one council member from that area to represent them. Currently, the council has five members, all elected by citywide vote.
If the plan is approved, Costa Mesa voters also would be able to directly elect a mayor, who would be a seventh member of the council. The mayor currently is a council member selected by a majority vote of the council.
The decision to shift to district-based elections was intended to prevent a threatened lawsuit alleging that Costa Mesa’s citywide balloting method dilutes the ability of Latino residents to influence council elections.
On Wednesday, though, candidates said the council’s plan isn’t necessarily the right one.
“For various legal reasons we will have districting,” said Genis, who voted against the plan when it went before the council. “But I think the ‘six plus one’ is a big mistake.”
Melone said he’s against moving to districts, but if the city has to, he would use a plan that keeps the council at five members and doesn’t add a publicly elected mayor.
“I would like to think that maybe we can fight it in court,” he said. “Maybe we don’t have to acquiesce.”
The candidates also were asked for their thoughts about the possibility of a merger between the Costa Mesa Sanitary District and the Mesa Water District.
The two agencies have feuded publicly over the topic for the past few months. Mesa Water has sponsored an advisory measure on November’s ballot to gauge public sentiment on the concept.
Humphrey said he’s “absolutely against” the merger idea, describing it as a “grab for power” by Mesa Water.
Stephens said he hasn’t come to a conclusion about it but that he generally feels that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
He doesn’t think the measure should be on the November ballot because not enough information has been provided to the public.
A theme throughout the forum was that the candidates believe changes are needed in how council members interact with the public and one another.
“We have to develop a city that is open, that is responsive and is accountable,” Humphrey said.
“Until we can be nice to one another, until we can be pleasant, we will not be able to build consensus,” Stephens said.
The forum was the 16th sponsored by Mesa Verde Community Inc. Video of the event will be posted online at mesaverdecommunity.org.
The Eastside Costa Mesa Neighbors group will sponsor a candidates forum at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave. A meet-and-greet will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
