Due to the observation of the New Year’s holiday, there will be no residential street sweeping Friday Dec. 31.
No citations should be written on that day.
Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule, starting the week of Jan. 3 2022.
Have a great holiday weekend and Happy New Year!
In October, the City Council created a Housing Ad Hoc Committee, whose members are Mayor Pro Tem Andrea Marr, Council Members Arlis Reynolds and Jeff Harlan, to participate and advise on City activities and actions pertaining to Housing Element implementation and ongoing compliance with State housing element law.
The State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has recently determined that Costa Mesa’s Measure Y (approved by voters in 2016) is a constraint to the development of housing and conflicts with State law. Measure Y requires a vote of the people for certain types of development in the City, including housing projects.
The Housing Ad Hoc Committee will be hosting a public meeting on Jan. 11 to take public input, understand the purpose and challenges of Measure Y, and discuss a viable path forward for the city’s Housing Element and housing goals.
We want to hear from you. Please save the date, spread the word, and plan to attend! The meeting will also be available on Zoom for remote participation.
Due to the observation of Christmas Holiday, there will be no residential street sweeping Friday Dec. 24.
No citations should be written on that day.
Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule, starting the week of Dec. 27 2021.
Have a great holiday!
The deadline for submitting maps is this Thursday Dec. 16 by 5 p.m. in order to be considered for the upcoming Jan. 8 Community Workshop.
To create a new map, the public can learn more about the mapping tools that are available here on the City website and draw their own map.
The City of Costa Mesa is seeking the public’s help to review and revise the City districts as required by state law and discuss the currently proposed draft maps.
The primary goal when developing election districts is to draw lines that respect neighborhoods, history and geographical elements. The City of Costa Mesa is seeking the public’s help to plan and draw new City district maps that will define the six City of Costa Mesa district borders. These new districts will impact how to elect Council Members for the next 10 years.
The next Community Workshop will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday Jan. 8, 2022 at the Norma Hertzog Community Center at 1845 Park Ave, Costa Mesa
Every 10 years, local governments use new data from the Census to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed.
State law requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and doing public outreach, including to underrepresented and non-English-speaking communities.
More information about the process, how you can be involved, and the schedule of events is available at www.redistrictcostamesa.org.
With the first big winter storm approaching Costa Mesa and the region, the city’s maintenance service crews have made sandbags available at City Hall.
Sand bags are available for free to Costa Mesa residents in the southeast corner of the City Hall parking lot at 77 Fair Drive. The location is self-service and bringing your own shovel is suggested as supplies could be limited. The number of sandbags is limited to 15 sandbags per household.
No commercial use please.
Click here for instructions on sandbags.
Please report flooding issues to 714-754-5250.
The City of Costa Mesa is pleased to announce it will provide the Orange County Model Engineers with a matching contribution of $15,000 to help repair the vandalism of the iconic Goat Hill Junction train station that occurred earlier this week.
Inspired by a request from Council Member Loren Gameros, the Model Engineers will be able to expeditiously restore the train facilities back to normal.
“The Model Engineers and Goat Hill Junction is a Costa Mesa treasure that has created so many memories for our local children,” Mayor John Stephens said. “It’s outrageous that someone would vandalize the facility, but I’m happy the City is able to provide this funding to help restore and repair the train station.”
Hank Castignetti, the Model Engineer’s city liaison, said the funding couldn’t come at a better time since they had to deal with the pandemic and loss of all revenue. They also have to repair the trestle bridge that went out after 30 years.
“It’s phenomenal,” Castignetti said of the funding. “We are so grateful for the City’s assistance in a time of great need. In addition, we have also seen a tremendous outpouring of donations from citizens. The citizens of Costa Mesa realize what an incredible public benefit we provide to the children in this community.”
Officially known as, Mackerel Flats and Goat Hill Junction Railroad, the non-profit Model Engineers club was founded by a group of local railroad buffs in 1988 and has been operating the trains in Costa Mesa’s east Fairview Park area since 1989.
Since then, several improvements have taken place at the facility that included the creation of the train station and an expansion of the train tracks to five miles that wind through the park.
The club engineers conduct public rides on the third Saturday and following Sunday of each month from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. They give approximately 3,000 free rides each month.
For more information, please visit http://www.ocmetrains.org/
On Tuesday Nov. 30, City leaders held a reception to honor local Costa Mesa artist Valerie Mata, a former Back Bay High School student who created the artwork for a mural that is now displayed in the entrance lobby of the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter at 3175 Airway Ave.
On hand for the reception were Mayor John Stephens, Mayor Pro-Tem Andrea Marr, District 2 Council Member Loren Gameros, Assistant City Manager Susan Price and Newport-Mesa School Board Trustee Carol Crane. Also attending were the artist’s family as well as her Back Bay High art teacher Cami Marseille and the school’s principal Mike Wagner.
Click here to watch a video of the reception.
Mayor Stephens talked about the success of the Bridge Shelter and presented Mata with a proclamation to thank her for her efforts.
“We’ve created a bridge from homelessness and living on the streets to a better life,” Mayor Stephens said. “And Valerie you’ve taken this ideal and incorporated the arts. And as you know we are the City of the Arts. Your artistry and your gift will give inspiration and will save lives and save souls.”
In January of this year, the City’s Cultural Arts Committee and City partner Trellis formed a committee to choose a mural for the Bridge Shelter entrance.
The mural committee consisted of Assistant City Manager Susan Price, former Outreach Manager Stacy Lumley, Parks and Community Services Recreation Supervisor Ashley Thomas, Outreach team leaders Natalie Basmaciyan and John Begin), Ian Stevenson of Trellis and Cultural Arts Committee Chair Charlene Ashendorf.
The intent for this piece of art is to convey the message, “we’re better together” and illustrate how people experiencing homelessness, volunteers, donors, city leaders/officials, leaders from various organizations, churches, businesses and non-profits work together to make the shelter successful.
The committee reviewed about a dozen entries and unanimously chose Mata’s artwork, which depicts a bridge to the future. She was awarded $500 for the winning mural, which was sponsored by Trellis.
Both Stevenson from Trellis and Ashendorf also spoke about Mata’s mural and what it meant to them and the committee.
Mata thanked her teacher and counselor at Back Bay High and said she can relate to those at the shelter because she and her family have also experienced hardships.
“We went through some really interesting times,” she said. “But I really appreciate going through all that. I don’t regret it at all. And now I’m here. So people like this can also be in better places.”
The artwork was converted to wallpaper and installed on the Shelter wall by Mouse Graphics, a local Costa Mesa business.
The City of Costa Mesa will hold a second community workshop on Wednesday Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Community Room to seek the public’s help to review and revise the City districts as required by state law and discuss the currently proposed draft maps.
The primary goal when developing election districts is to draw lines that respect neighborhoods, history and geographical elements. The City of Costa Mesa is seeking the public’s help to plan and draw new City district maps that will define the six City of Costa Mesa district borders. These new districts will impact how to elect Council Members for the next 10 years.
The city continues to encourage residents to submit draft boundary proposals, revisions to submitted maps, or offer comments on any maps. The city’s demographer will continue to review all submissions and make revisions as necessary, based on Council direction and community input.
The public can learn more about the mapping tools that are available here on the City website and draw their own map.
Every 10 years, local governments use new data from the Census to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. State law requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and doing public outreach, including to underrepresented and non-English-speaking communities.
There will be one more community workshop on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, 10:00 a.m. Location TBD.
More information about the process, how you can be involved, and the schedule of events is available at www.redistrictcostamesa.org.
Due to the observation of the Thanksgiving Holiday, there will be no residential street sweeping Thursday Nov. 25 and Friday Nov. 26.
No citations should be written on those days.
Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule, starting the week of Nov. 29.
As the City of Costa Mesa continues the redistricting process, residents are encouraged to create their own district maps using the online Draw a Map tools on the City’s website.
Click here to draw your own map.
Currently, there are 10 draft maps available for review, seven are public submittals by individuals and the city’s demographer, Dr. Justin Levitt, also prepared three draft City Council district boundary maps based on the legal criteria outlined in past meetings, including consideration of communities of interest.
The draft maps are intended for discussion purposes only.
The city continues to encourage residents to submit draft boundary proposals, revisions to submitted maps, or offer comments on any maps. The city’s demographer will continue to review all submissions and make revisions as necessary, based on Council direction and community input.
The next steps are to conduct public workshops to seek additional public input on the draft district maps. The following dates are scheduled:
Every 10 years, local governments use new data from the Census to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. State law requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and doing public outreach, including to underrepresented and non-English-speaking communities.
The City of Costa Mesa is seeking the public’s help to plan and draw new City district maps that will define the six City of Costa Mesa district borders. These new districts will impact how to elect Council Members for the next 10 years.
Learn more about future meetings and how the public can participate at www.redistrictcostamesa.org
Spanish version below:
La Ciudad de Costa Mesa continúa con el proceso de redistribución de distritos, todos los residentes están invitados a crear su propio mapa de distritos usando las herramientas en la sección Dibujar un Mapa, localizada en la página de la Ciudad.
Haga clic aquí dibujar un mapa.
En este momento hay diez borradores de mapas disponibles para revisar, siete fueron entregadas por miembros del público y tres mapas fueron preparados por el demógrafo de la Ciudad. Los mapas del demógrafo fueron basados en el criterio legal detallado en las juntas pasadas, incluyendo la consideración de las comunidades de interés.
La intención de los borradores de mapas es para conversar solamente.
La Ciudad alienta que los residentes sometan borradores de mapas, revisiones a mapas ya entregados, o que dejen sus comentarios en cualquiera de los mapas. El demógrafo de la Ciudad continuará revisando todas las sumisiones y hará los cambios necesarios, basado en la dirección del Consejo Municipal y los comentarios de la comunidad.
El siguiente paso es conducir talleres comunitarios para recibir comentarios adicionales del publicó en los borradores de mapas. Las siguientes fechas están programadas:
Cada diez años, los gobiernos locales utilizan nuevos datos del Censo para volver a dibujar los límites de los distritos y reflejar cómo han cambiado las poblaciones locales. La ley del Estado requiere que las ciudades incluyan a las comunidades en el proceso de la redistribución de distritos por medio de audiencias públicas y programas de extensión, también incluyendo a las comunidades insuficientemente representadas y a los que no hablan inglés.
La Ciudad de Costa Mesa solicita la participación del público en planificar y dibujar los nuevos mapas que definieran los seis límites de los distritos en la Ciudad. Los nuevos distritos impactaran como eligen los Miembros del Consejo Municipal para los próximos diez años.
Para más información sobre las próximas juntas y como el público puede participar, visite www.redistrictcostamesa.org
Costa Mesa City Council members were presented with the first 10 draft redistricting maps at the Council meeting of Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
The community was encouraged to submit proposed maps for the November 16, 2021 public hearing for the City Council’s initial consideration and discussion.
A total of seven public submittals were made by individuals and the city’s demographer, Dr. Justin Levitt, also prepared three draft City Council district boundary maps based on the legal criteria outlined in past meetings, including consideration of communities of interest.
The draft maps are intended for discussion purposes only.
The city continues to encourage residents to submit draft boundary proposals, revisions to submitted maps, or offer comments on any maps. The city’s demographer will continue to review all submissions and make revisions as necessary, based on Council direction and community input.
The next steps are to conduct public workshops to seek additional public input on the draft district maps. The following dates are scheduled:
Every 10 years, local governments use new data from the Census to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed. State law requires cities and counties to engage communities in the redistricting process by holding public hearings and doing public outreach, including to underrepresented and non-English-speaking communities.
The City of Costa Mesa is seeking the public’s help to plan and draw new City district maps that will define the six City of Costa Mesa district borders. These new districts will impact how to elect Council Members for the next 10 years.
Learn more about future meetings and how the public can participate at www.redistrictcostamesa.org
City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison presented IT Programmer Analyst II Phoebe Jin with the City Manager Leadership Award winner for the month of October.
“Phoebe’s dedication to her job has resulted in better IT systems for both City employees and the residents we serve,” City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison said. “Additionally, Phoebe has a positive attitude and always treats everyone with respect. She genuinely loves helping her co-workers and these are always traits that we value here in Costa Mesa. We are so thankful she is part of our team.”
Jin works on a variety of programming projects, collaborating with multiple City Department. Her projects include the intranet system, the Homeless Information System, IT Inventory, Waitwhile, and SeamlessDocs.
Every year, Jin participates in the support of the City’s Open Enrollment. For a long time, employees submitted their enrollment forms manually to HR. But, in 2020, she collaborated with HR and designed an online submission process through SeamlessDocs.
For this year’s Open Enrollment, Jin designed a new process – Employees can now submit their forms through an online system, greatly reducing HR’s workload.
Jin started to work for City of Costa Mesa IT Department in June 2013 as an intern and later was promoted to Programmer Analyst I. In April 2015, she and her husband, Shiji (she-gee) moved to San Francisco. They relocated back to Orange County in May 2019, and she was rehired as Programmer Analyst II.
Originally from Shanghai, China, Jin finished her Master’s degree in Computer Science from Cal State Fullerton in 2014.