COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:

I want to say thank you to the public for its support during my time as mayor. It has been an honor and a great experience to serve in that capacity, and I am looking forward to completing my remaining three years on the council. Eric Bever will do a good job as mayor.

Now as to who Improvers are and what they want to do, let me first explain that there is no organized group with some type of official membership. When I first ran for office, several of my supporters and I were fed up with things like crime, broken streets, and noisy vending trucks that litter, and loitering on the streets. There was a general feeling of a low quality of life.

We wanted these things fixed. We wanted a higher quality of life. Many people had been using the word “improvement.” It was not called the Improvement Movement yet, and the Pilot had not yet written about it as a group. Eric Bever suggested I use it in my campaign as a slogan. It summed up what we wanted to do.

My reelection signs had Improving Costa Mesa. It stuck and resonated with the city. Not only did the words resonate, but so did the actions taken. Then the Pilot started mentioning the word Improvers and the Improvement Movement. The rest is Costa Mesa history.

So what is an Improver? There is no official definition, but simply using the word or saying that you are one does not make you one, nor is there a specific platform or spokesperson. The best definition is explaining what Improvers want to see in our city and what Improvers have done to better our it.

Improvers want a higher quality of life. We wanted less loitering, so we fought for those results. We worked to close the job center. Since it has closed there is less loitering, and there is now a tax generating, nicely landscaped business in its place.

Problem identified, action taken, results delivered. Even Daily Pilot Publisher Tom Johnson once said, “And, to be honest, in my many trips down Placentia Avenue since then, I have to admit that area has improved.”

This is a vast improvement and in complete contrast to the status quo position of former councils, Return To Reason, and the Foley/Dixon “faction,” as the Pilot likes to call it.

Improvers wanted something done about illegal immigration. Due to our push to have officers trained to uphold our immigration laws, ICE decided to put an agent in our jail. The result is that there are more than 520 fewer criminals in Costa Mesa. According to a recent report, robberies are down almost 40%, and burglaries are down more than 3%. And in the categories of robbery, burglary, and theft, at least 38 illegal immigrants have been removed from Costa Mesa.

Action taken, results delivered. Even Johnson once said, “Who can argue with 500-plus illegal immigrants identified through arrests?”

For more information on the illegal immigration issue, please visit my website, at AllanMansoor.com.

Improvers supported an airport at El Toro, which was contrary to former council member Cowan, and councilwomen Foley and Dixon. If we had supported an airport at El Toro we might not be facing the problems we now have. The goal was to improve the quality of life of all Costa Mesa residents, and not just one part of town. Why would they take a position that is not in the best interest of the citizens of Costa Mesa and our quality of life? Improvers support keeping John Wayne Airport from expanding and believe at this point that a regional approach is the solution to our air travel needs.

Improvers supported the overlay zones that Bever put forward. They provide a means for revitalization through free market forces without Eminent Domain. Additionally, we now have higher standards in place for condo conversions, which will result in a higher-quality product. Projects are now going forward for approval in the overlay zones. Action taken, results delivered.

Improvers have also pushed for more street repair and landscaped medians. The need for more street repair in my opinion was due to neglect of our infrastructure over many years by prior councils. We have greatly increased the amount of asphalt put down on our residential streets. Seventeenth and 19th streets have new pavement and new beautiful landscaped medians. 19th Street looked more like a war zone with its potholes, and now reflects the fine character of our city with its repaving. Action taken, results delivered.

We have tried to put utilities underground citywide but the cost is simply too high. Each of us does however pay into a fund on our electric bill that goes toward putting utilities underground. This allows us to do a small project every few years. We are currently finishing the payment for undergrounding the utilities on 19th Street. I am supportive of making Adams Avenue the next project. To improve aesthetics and traffic, I am supportive of landscaped medians where appropriate. City staff, at the direction of council, is trying to make landscaped medians work on some parts of Placentia. Since there is funding available, I am supportive of using those funds for medians on Adams now while we iron out the details on Placentia.

Another major issue among residents is traffic. We have put in place signal coordination where appropriate as well as bus turnouts and turn lanes on 17th Street.

However, these improvements will not solve all of our traffic problems. We need a major solution to resolve the traffic at the second worst intersection in the county where the southbound 55 Freeway ends at 19th Street. That same intersection makes leaving Newport Beach a traffic nightmare at times, especially during the summer.

The council has supported the 55 access study for the extension of the freeway. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) also supports this study and is doing initial outreach. Approval and funding is already in place for an additional lane in each direction on part of Newport Boulevard, but again that will provide relief for only a limited time.

The 55 access study is a first step in a greater regional issue and provides an opportunity to get people in Newport and Costa Mesa out of traffic and to their destinations faster. Part of the goal also is to get people off the peninsula and to the 55 Freeway faster.

Improvers have also been supportive of plans to revitalize the Joann Street Bike Trail and the section of connecting bike trail on southbound Harbor from Fair Drive to the Joanne Street Bike Trail. That section of Harbor Boulevard needs of revitalization, and it will beautify our city. Credit also goes to our city staff for working with the state to find additional sports fields for our youth at Fairview Developmental Center. City staff also put together an offer to purchase a property on the east side of town, resulting in the expansion of Brentwood Park.

These are the types of things Improvers have done and will continue to do to make Costa Mesa the prime coastal community it should be. Improvers believe Costa Mesa is a great place to live, work and play. It is worth continuing to fight to improve our quality of life. There is still much work to be done to Improve Costa Mesa but with the support of the public, we will continue to move in the right direction toward action taken and results delivered.

Allan Mansoor is a city councilman in Costa Mesa.