The Costa Mesa Police Department will be conducting a driving under the influence (DUI) and driver’s license checkpoint on the day after St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 18, 2022, from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. within the city limits.

Checkpoint locations are determined based on data showing incidents of impaired driving-related crashes. The primary purpose of DUI checkpoints is not to make arrests, but to promote public safety by distributing educational information and by taking suspected impaired drivers off the road.

“If you plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, have a game plan to get home safe and do not drink and drive,” Sgt. Dan Miles said. “These checkpoints, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, are essential to keeping the community safe. On Friday, we will be looking for impaired drivers because driving under the influence is dangerous and puts others on the road at risk.”

“Our preference is to have zero DUI drivers on our roadways and that those who decide to drink do so responsibility by always having a designated driver,” said Chief Ron Lawrence. “DUI checkpoints are a way to educate our community and our hope is people learn to plan ahead with alternative transportation when out drinking.”

CMPD reminds the public that impaired driving is not just from alcohol. Some prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs may interfere with driving. Always follow directions for use and read warning labels about driving or “operating heavy machinery,” which includes driving a car. While medicinal and recreational marijuana are legal, driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal. Drivers charged with a first-time DUI face an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties, as well as a suspended license.

CMPD offers these reminders to ensure you have a safe night of fun that does not involve a DUI:

• Always use a designated sober driver to get home, which could be a friend who is not drinking, ride-share, a cab or public transportation.
• If you see someone who is impaired try to drive, take the keys and help them make other arrangements to find a sober way home.
• Call 911 to report drunk drivers.
• If you are hosting a party, offer nonalcoholic drinks. Monitor those who are drinking and how they are getting home.
• If you plan on drinking or taking medications that may impact your ability to drive safely, plan on staying at home.

Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Chief Dan Stefano was recognized at the annual conference of the California Fire Chiefs Association for his outstanding leadership during his tenure as the association’s president.

Fire department leaders from across the state of California converged in San Diego for the conference, held during the week of Sept. 13, to train, engage and recognize leadership in the state’s fire service. Chief Stefano was credited by his peers for bringing dynamic collaborative leadership and organizational oversight to the organization as the President since 2019.

“It has been an absolute honor and privilege to serve as a part of our extremely talented and engaged full Board of Directors and Section Leadership of CalChiefs, particularly at this snapshot in time, as the California fire service continues to navigate back-to-back years of historic wildfires, an unprecedented pandemic, civil unrest, natural disasters, terrorism threats, behavioral and mental health challenges, and so much more,”  Chief Stefano said. “The California Fire Service is stronger and more unified as ever, holding an unwavering priority of focus on our incredible women and men who serve, and most certainly to the communities and people who we all serve, 24/7/365!”

During Chief Stefano’s closing comments, he highlighted the incredible support he received from the City Council, City Manager Lori Ann Farrell-Harrison and the City Leadership Team, as well as the entire CMFR team and his family. He emphasized that only through this incredible support that he was afforded this opportunity to actively engage at both the state and national levels, with the best interests of the California Fire Service and the City of Costa Mesa in mind.

Chief Stefano passed the presidential baton to Ontario Fire Chief Ray Gayk, who was installed as the new Cal Chiefs President. CMFR Chief Stefano will remain an active member of the Cal Chiefs Executive Board and will serve as the Past President for the next term.

Stefano also thanked the Orange County’s Fire Service and the outstanding leadership team that was strongly represented through the attendance by Fountain Valley Fire Chief Ron Cookston, Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles,  Orange City Fire Chief Sean deMetroplis, Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano, Orange Country Fire Authority Fire Chief Brian Fennessy, and Brea/Fullerton Fire Chief Adam Loeser.

Also a strong representation of the CMFR team was present including Division Chief Jason Pyle, Battalion Chief Chris Coates, Fire Marshal Jon Neal, Community Risk Reduction Specialist Brenda Emrick, Executive Assistant Lora Ross and Management Analyst Kristin Stevens.

Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue will conduct additional training exercises June 24 through June 26, 2020 in and around Canyon Park in preparation for the upcoming wildland fire season, as well as the July Fourth holiday. Exercises will occur daily between 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue wants to ensure the community is aware of the upcoming training and asks residents and park visitors to be mindful of fire department apparatus, equipment, and preparations conducted by fire personnel. These training exercises take place in Costa Mesa and countywide to help prepare the firefighters for vegetation fires within and outside city limits. The training is an extension of the recent training exercises that occurred in Fairview Park which improves area knowledge and the tactics taken to combat wild fires.

“California is coming off one of the most catastrophic wildfire years in history and with the Fourth of July holiday upon us, this training is an imperative piece in our overall preparations.” Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano said. “We will continue to be unwavering in our efforts to be proactive, engaged with community, and well-prepared for any emergency, which is a testament to all of our professional men and women who serve with passion, professionalism and pride 24/7/365!”

There will be approximately 12 fire personnel present for the training and two to three pieces of fire apparatus daily. Firefighters will train on a couple of trails in Canyon Park where there is dense vegetation and moderate terrain features. The training is conducted to promote safety, mitigation, terrain recognition, and area familiarization while focusing on the fundamentals of wildland firefighting. Moreover, the department is conducting the training with full awareness and sensitivity of all environmental impacts and ensures this training will exclude any live burn training modules. The training will also adhere to County and City requirements/recommendations in regards to COVID19 safety precautions. The training is facilitated with the assistance of the Costa Mesa Parks and Community Services Department.

For questions please contact Captain Joseph Noceti, Public Information Officer at (714) 754-5091.

The Bikeway and Walkability Committee was established by City Council in 2015 and meets regularly on the first Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m.

The Committee is helping to implement a robust Active Transportation network for the City by improving bicycle and pedestrian connectivity. The mission of this committee is to:

• Focus on the review and update of the City’s Active Transportation Plan and improvements to be made to bikeways and pedestrian facilities in the City; and
• Evaluate the bikeability and walkability of our City in order to make recommendations for improvement to the City Council.

The Bikeway and Walkability Committee and the Public Services Department are partnering to develop solutions to many pedestrian and bicycling challenges and activities which include the following:

• Community outreach
• pedestrian and bicycle safety education
• National Walk to School Day annually in October
• National Bike Month in May (the City of Costa Mesa has the highest percentage of residents that commute to work via bicycling compared to all neighboring cities.)
• Walk audits
• Grant applications and Award/Certification Level applications

For additional information about the Committee, please select the following link: https://www.costamesaca.gov/city-hall/commissions-and-committees/bikeway-walkability-committee.  The Committee website includes a link to webinars on walkability hosted by America Walks: http://americawalks.org/.

The City of Costa Mesa recently awarded a construction contract to Copp Contracting Inc. to reconstruct and place approximately 5,400 tons of new asphalt on Pomona Avenue from 18th to 16th Street.

Construction started on Monday Aug. 27 and is anticipated for completion by mid-November. This Federally Funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) street improvement project involves removal and reconstruction of the asphalt pavement and concrete storm drain, sidewalk, curb, gutter, and access ramps.

The city has worked with Newport Mesa Unified School District to relocate the school bus pick up/drop off of Shalimar Drive to now stop at the 18th Street and Wallace Avenue bus-stop.

At the annual Mothers Against Drunk Driving Awards, five Costa Mesa officers officers were recognized for their hard work in arresting drunk drivers.

Officer V. Chawla received the Top Cop honor and led the way with 72 arrests followed by Officer B. Phot with 59 arrests Officer E. Wilson with 34 arrests, Officer N. Ransdell with 29 arrests and Officer K. Bao with  28 arrests.

They five officers combined had 222 DUI arrests between them last year.

Public Services recently expanded its graffiti removal and pressure washing program. Historically, the Maintenance Division has dedicated a one or two-person operation to manage the program.

Maintenance staff is very dedicated and takes pride in the program, resulting in high level of success in managing graffiti issues throughout the City. Staff attempts to remove graffiti within 24 hours of discovery or reporting.

The program’s current expansion includes additional resources and equipment to better serve Costa Mesa. The program is now staffed by two full-time employees and one part-time employee operating out of two fully equipped graffiti abatement trucks, one pickup truck and trailer, and the gator which is dedicated to Fairview Park and the Joann Bike Trail.

Staff works an overlapping schedule to provide coverage every day. With the additional staff and equipment, the program now has increased the frequency of services to include weekly pressure washing of park shelters and pressure washing high use bus stops in conjunction with the City’s bus stop maintenance contractor.

As part of this program, maintenance staff performs regular pressure washing of the Skate Park, Bark Park, all City owned park playgrounds, Davis field restroom and sidewalks, senior center walkways and City facilities. Staff is also quick to respond with pressure washing services to daily requests related to paint spills, utility markings and graffiti removal.

The reconstruction of Fire Station No. 1  continues to make progress.

Demolition of the original station was completed in March and hazardous material abatement, site grading, and foundation compaction is now complete.

The building foundation has been constructed using one inch diameter steel bars and 3,750 psi concrete containing up to 1.5” aggregate rock.

Construction of masonry block walls for interior and exterior partitions has begun, and reinforced steel bars are in place. Grout for the block walls is scheduled for sometime this week.

The steel reinforced concrete floor slab is next to be constructed and the building will continue to go vertical from there.

Construction is tentatively scheduled for completion in Spring of 2018.

The Public Services Department is implementing traffic-calming improvements along East 19th Street between Church Street and Irvine Avenue.  The improvements include concrete curb bulb-outs, street paving and landscape/Irrigation work.

The concrete curbs on the north side of East 19th Street were completed, and the installation of irrigation sleeves at most of the intersections have been nearly completed.  The concrete sidewalks will be constructed along the north side starting Monday, May 15.  The next phase of work will include the construction of the curb bulb-outs on the south side of East 19th Street and paving. This work will start on Wednesday May 17.

In order to do this next phase of work expeditiously and safely, all eastbound traffic will be diverted via detours at Fullerton Avenue. The westbound traffic will be allowed on East 19th Street throughout this period. Traffic flow in both directions will resume after this two-week period.  Notice of this closure will be provided to all residents along East 19th Street.

The Public Services Department recently completed a two-inch grind of the roadway pavement on Adams Avenue from Fairview Road to Peterson Place and overlaid a new rubberized asphalt pavement.

Grinding and the construction of 3,400 tons of asphalt rubberized hot mix to create a new two-inch surface layer was completed late April.

Work was coordinated with the Orange Coast College Programs, Swap Meet, local temporary Fire Station, adjacent residents’ and businesses. Prior to this work, CJ Concrete Construction was contracted to remove and replace damaged curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and wheelchair ramps along this segment of Adams Ave.

Final construction activities including utility adjustments, lane and traffic legend striping, and traffic loop detectors were completed last week.

The Fire & Rescue staff has happily reported that 16 community members recently graduated from the CERT training hosted by Greenleaf Mobile Home Park.

Participants learned skills in preparedness, fire safety and utility control, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue techniques, homeland security awareness and disaster emotional first aid.

Members of the instructional team included Fire Capt. Fred McDowell and Costa Mesa Police Lt. Vic Bakkila as well as volunteer instructors, Georgette Quinn, Cindy Brenneman, Dee Chester and program manager Brenda Emrick.

The next CERT class will be offered in March.