Longtime gymnastics instructor calls it a day

Antje Morris, the program director for the City’s popular Gymnastics Program said goodbye on Sept. 1 after a nearly 40-year career.

Morris has taught three generations of Costa Mesa residents while overseeing the program and has been instrumental in the safety training of staff and in the equipment upgrades that have taken place over the years.

Morris is leaving the program in safe hands as she moves into her retirement years.

As a token of appreciation, Morris was presented with a plaque from department staff.



New Ganahl Lumber facility is taking shape

The new Ganahl Lumber in Costa Mesa is currently under construction.

The new facility, being built just north of the existing facility on Bristol Street, will include a 59,340-square-foot, two-story retail building with roof and surface level parking.

Additionally, a 29,560-square-foot, one-story metal storage building; a 3,750-square-foot mill building; and a 6,792-square-foot, three-sided storage shed for lumber is proposed.

Estimated competition is spring of 2018.



Mesa Water to host community festival to celebrate health, happiness and community

Mesa Water District, which supplies water to 110,000 residents throughout Costa Mesa and parts of Newport Beach, invites the community to a free family-friendly festival at its headquarters in Costa Mesa. The “I ♥ Mesa Water” festival, to be held on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., will celebrate health, happiness, and community.

The festival will kick off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially launch Mesa Water’s new water vending machine. After the ceremony, festival attendees will receive a reuseable water bottle (while supplies last) for a free fill-up of fresh drinking water from Mesa Water’s new water vending machine.

“With Mesa Water’s mission of satisfying our community’s water needs, we are dedicated to engaging with and serving all customers, while also contributing to our community members’ health and happiness,” said Mesa Water Board President Jim Atkinson. “Our new water vending machine is a convenient source of affordable, quality drinking water for our public to enjoy and stay hydrated.”

Alongside Mesa Water, eleven local nonprofits and community organizations will host a booth at the festival to provide activities and giveaways for attendees, while also sharing information about their resources that support health and happiness in the community. To date, participating partners include the following:

– City of Costa Mesa Parks and Community Services

– Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living

– Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce

– MIKA Community Development Corporation

– Costa Mesa Family Resource Center

– Save Our Youth

– Share Our Selves

– Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries

– Youth Employment Service

– Vanguard University Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership

– Los Angeles Chargers

Taking place in the parking lot of Mesa Water’s headquarters in Costa Mesa, at 1965 Placentia Avenue, the festival will include live music by VOX DJs, healthy food, a “Chargers Quarterback Toss” for attendees to test their skills, a “Swift Kick Soccer Challenge” game, prizes, face painting, a bubble artist, caricature artist, and more!



Fire and police staff to gather at fire stations Monday to mark the 16th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks

This Monday will mark the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of approximately 3,000 people, many of them first responders.

As in years past, the Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue and the Police Departments will join together in remembrance with other fire/rescue and law enforcement agencies throughout the region (and the country) in memory of those lives who were lost on that day in history.

“Sept. 11 is an important time for all of us to come together to reflect, honor, and pay a special tribute to our brothers and sisters in the uniformed services (343 – fallen members of FDNY, 23 fallen members of NYPD, and 37 fallen members of the Port Authority Police) and all of the innocent victims (2,574) who lost their lives on 9/11,” Fire Chief Dan Stefano said. “We will always remember.”

The Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Department and the Costa Mesa Police Department will have personnel gathering at all of the city’s six fire stations and are extending an open invitation to city residents, community members, and visitors to join us from 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. for some shared time of reflection.

The gathering areas will be in front of each fire station and similar remembrance ceremonies will be conducted concurrently with all of the Orange County Fire Service Agencies participating.



New Mobile Recreation Program van is unveiled

The city’s Mobile Recreation Program is unveiling its new van that will rollout as the program reboots late September with this new vehicle that will be full of athletic equipment, games, art supplies, books and Los Angeles Chargers branding.

It was the Chargers who donated $50,000 to help get the project rolling.

The vehicle will pop-up in various locations throughout the community where park space may be limited or where there is no access to after-school programs.

The Mobile Recreation van has an artistic wrap to represent the essence of the program and the wrap was created with the help of Fleet Services and City Graphic Designer Gina Clark.

The Chargers announced in January that the team would be moving to Los Angeles and then subsequently announced that the team would move its headquarters to the Hive office complex in Costa Mesa.

In March, the team agreed to enter into a 10-year use agreement with the city to practice at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex during the NFL team’s Summer Training Camp. As part of this training camp agreement, the team will provide Costa Mesa with $150,000 a year to use the site for a potential $1.5 million over 10 years and pledged a $50,000 donation to be used for the Mobile Recreation Program.



City’s new Transportation Manager takes the helm

Public Services recently announced the arrival of Jennifer Rosales as the city’s new Transportation Manager.

Rosales has over 20 years of experience in transportation engineering, transportation planning, project management, and transportation management. She most recently worked in the City of San Clemente where she managed the City’s traffic signal system, traffic calming program, transportation programs including seasonal trolley, and complex multi-modal transportation/civil engineering design and construction projects.

Rosales is recognized internationally as an industry leader in innovative street design and contextually complete streets. She is active speaking and publishing internationally with over 25 publications.

Rosales developed an award-winning, comprehensive practitioner’s guidebook called “Road Diet Handbook: Setting Trends for Livable Streets.” For her work on the Road Diet Handbook, she was named to the “2007 Trendsetters List” of Public Works magazine. Rosales received the Past Presidents’ Award for Merit in Transportation Engineering from the Institute of Transportation Engineers in 2007.

Rosales is a registered professional engineer, certified professional traffic operations engineer, and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University.

She is a leader in the transportation industry including Past International Director on the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Board of Direction from 2014-16, Past President of the ITE Western District, and Past Chair of ITE’s Standing Committee on Ethics Issues. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Transportation Professional Certification Board. Rosales enjoys spending time on the golf course, tennis court, the beach, bike trails and adventures with her dogs, Brooke and Velvet.



Street sweeping postponed for one week due to Labor Day holiday

Due to the observation of the Labor Day holiday on Monday Sept. 4, there will be no residential street sweeping the entire week from Sept. 5 through Sept. 8.

The reason for this is that the Costa Mesa Sanitary District also observes this holiday by pushing trash collection back one day.

This results in residential gutter lines being cluttered with trash cans making it impossible for street sweeper operators to do an efficient job.  

No citations will be written all week. Street sweeping will resume back to normal schedule starting the week of Sept. 11, 2017.

The following are a list of tasks that CleanStreet operators will be conducting next week:

 The City’s street sweeping hotline has been updated with all the information above alerting residents about next week’s sweeping schedule. Click here for more information on the city’s website.



Mesa Water District working to restore water service in several locations

Mesa Water District crews are working Wednesday Aug. 30 to repair several water main breaks that caused loss of water service in areas throughout the city.

The first main break happened on Tuesday evening at Costa Mesa Street and Orange Ave, Costa Mesa: Water service was restored by 10 p.m. and crews were still cleaning up on Wednesday.

On Mendoza Street, affected residents have been notified of a water main break and crews are working on restoring service. Mendoza is anticipated to have restored service by 3 p.m. Wednesday.

On Airport Loop reports are that water service is off for two commercial buildings. Mesa Water District staff is talking to customers there and crews are on site assessing.

Water service is on along Meyer Place but will be turned off to make repairs Wednesday. Mesa Water will notify school and residents.

For more information please visit the Mesa Water District website here.



Networking pays off for IT’s Swanson as he gets City Manager Leadership Award  

City Manager Tom Hatch presented IT Network Administrator Lloyd Swanson with this month’s City Manager Leadership Award at the Meet and Greet employee get together on Thursday Aug. 24.

“Lloyd has a critical job when it comes to supporting the technology needs of City Hall staff,” Hatch said. “I admire him for his knowledge, patience and problem-solving abilities. His commitment to doing excellent work makes him a great role model for all of us here and this is just an opportunity to thank and honor him for his dedication.”

Swanson joined the City of Costa Mesa in December of 2000 as an Information System Specialist and was assigned to the Police Department until June 30, 2003, when he moved to City Hall.

In May of 2005, his title was changed to Network Administrator.

Swanson excels in customer service and genuinely loves helping users with any problems.

At one point, Lloyd was single handedly supporting both the City and the Public safety system, which included being on call 24/7 for six months.

Prior to working in Costa Mesa, Swanson was hired by the Newport Beach Police Department in 1993 as a part-time Parking Control Officer. His IT career began later in 1997 as he started taking information technology courses at Coastline Community College.

With that technical knowledge, he was later transferred to the IT Department of the Newport Beach PD.

Swanson graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration (Urban and Regional Planning) from USC.

In addition to Swanson, Hatch honored several newly hired and promoted employees as well as one who is retiring.

In the new hire area, Hatch welcomed Eric Arellano, who is an intern in the City Manager’s Office, Parks & Community Services employees Amanda Fenner a new Recreation Leader IV,  Vanessa Orellana a Recreation Leader II and Alexander Schmitten Recreation Leader III.

From the Police Department he welcomed new Animal Control Officer Amanda Clover and new Crime Scene Specialist Robert Rueda as well as Michael Sampson a new Associate Engineer with Public Services. He also honored Parks & Community Services employee Allison Burch for her promotion to Administrative Secretary.

Finally, Hatch took a special mention to bid farewell to his outgoing Executive Administrator Kelly Shelton, who is retiring on Aug. 31.

“I love Kelly and I am going to miss her very much,” Hatch said.



Area on the Eastside scheduled for resurfacing of streets starting Thursday Aug. 24

A slurry seal resurfacing treatment that provides pavement protection from weathering will be applied in an Eastside neighborhood on Thursday Aug. 24 and Friday Aug. 25.

Access through this area will be limited during the working hours of 7 a.m. to 5  p.m.

Click here to view a map that shows the Area 25 section that will be resurfaced. The area is bordered by 22nd Street to the south, Newport Boulevard to the West, Santa Isabel Avenue to north to the eastern city limits.

“No Parking” signs have been posted in the neighborhood, indicating the dates and times in which vehicles may not park, drive, or access the streets.

Cooperation in observing all traffic control and parking restrictions will be greatly appreciated and will help in expediting the construction and yielding a better finished product.

A challenge with the slurry seal treatment is minimizing the amount of tire marks upon re-opening of the streets. Slurry seal is susceptible to deformation the first week following construction.

Therefore, the city is asking for everyone’s assistance when driving on these slurried streets, to avoid making sharp turns into and out of driveways and intersections.

Vehicle power steering puts tremendous force on the pavement with little effort from the driver. Whenever possible, and safe, please make wide, fluid turns into and out of driveways and intersections to avoid digging into the slurry.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.



City Parks & Community Services offers a multitude of programs this fall for all age groups

Costa Mesa Parks & Community Services will again offer after-school programs for both early childhood and teens starting this school year as well as swim lessons for adults and youth.

For elementary-aged children the city offers to the Recreation on Campus for Kids, or R.O.C.K.S, Afterschool Program at 11 sites throughout the city.

The R.O.C.K.S Program will also offer Youth Fitness Programs, showing kids that health and exercise can be fun.

After-school care for teens is offered at three Teen Center locations. These free programs take place at the Downtown Recreation Center, TeWinkle Intermediate, and Costa Mesa Middle School and will be open on the first day of school, Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Any teenagers who want to stop by after school, make a few new friends, try something new and have a good time are welcome.

Teen Center permission slips will be available at 7th and 8th grade registration days at Costa Mesa Middle School, TeWinkle Intermediate, and Ensign Intermediate. Please call (714) 327-7562 for more information.

Click here for more.

 

Additionally, fall youth and adult swim lessons will be held at the Downtown Aquatic Center at 1860 Anaheim Ave. beginning Tuesday, Sept. 5. Registration will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 8 a.m. online or at the Downtown Aquatic Center.

The pool is heated year-round. Please call (714) 327-7564 for more information.

Check out the city’s website for a full listing of fall programs and classes by clicking here.



City launches new web page to help residents report aircraft noise and concerns

In response to increased concerns about noise and flight patterns of aircraft flying in and out of John Wayne and other local airports, the city has created a new page titled, Airport Noise and Concerns, that provides residents with important resources for monitoring air traffic.

By clicking on the page here , residents can call JWA directly and the page provides access numbers and websites for the Federal Aviation Administration and Long Beach Airport.

City staff continues to work with county and regional officials to stay up to date on any changes regarding air traffic and noise.

Click here for a related story on noise curfew violations at Long Beach Airport.