Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger announced that Tesla Motors, an innovative automotive and energy storage company known for its high-end luxury electric cars, is the winner of the Mayor’s Award presented at the Tuesday April 5 City Council meeting.

Accepting the award on behalf of the company was Tesla Store Manager Peter Najera and Service Manager Joe Estrada.

“We are deeply honored and this is a wonderful and amazing thing that you have done for us,” Najera said. “We are thrilled to be here in Costa Mesa. It’s a perfect location.”

Costa Mesa is not only one of five Tesla sales locations in the county, but is also home to one of only two Tesla service centers in the county.

Tesla forgoes the typical dealership model that dominates the business, and instead sells cars directly to their customers through company owned stores or galleries, which are usually located in shopping malls.

For years, Tesla operated locally out of a 10,000-square-foot facility on Pullman Street in Costa Mesa, adjacent to the 55 freeway.  Nearly a year and a half ago they expanded their operation to also include a 27,000 square foot facility just down the street.

The new facility serves as a state of the art service center, complete with 26 service bays, two alignment bays, a detail center and car wash area in two buildings.

A typical day finds six service advisors and 20 service technicians servicing 30-35 vehicles per day, making the Costa Mesa location the number one Tesla Service center in terms of volume in the entire nation.

The City of Costa Mesa reached a landmark settlement agreement with Solid Landings Inc. that will result in the immediate closure of 15 of the company’s residential sober living homes and the closure of 18 more over the next two to three years at the latest.

“This is a major victory both for the residents of Costa Mesa and city officials who worked diligently on this issue for several years,” said Mayor Steve Mensinger. “We have invested considerable resources in legal, law enforcement and code enforcement efforts to ensure a balance between our residents who deserve neighborhood peace and tranquility and those who seek facilities to battle their addiction problems.”

The agreement with Solid Landings, the largest group home operator in the city of Costa Mesa, will effectively end years of both federal and state litigation between the company and the city and will keep intact the city’s two groundbreaking ordinances that place appropriate restrictions on group homes, limiting the number of occupants and the proximity between similar homes.

By entering into the agreement, Solid Landings will ultimately close 33 residential facilities and no legal fees will be paid by the city. Further, Solid Landings will relocate its counseling facilities to two locations in the city, one in a commercial area and the other in an industrial location.

The settlement discussions began approximately a month ago when the City Council directed Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Righeimer to negotiate on behalf of the city.

The negotiations between Righeimer and Solid Landings resulted in an agreement reached Tuesday April 5 when the council voted 3-0 to accept the terms of the settlement.

On Thursday March 24, staff and members of the City of Costa Mesa’s Military Affairs team hosted an Easter egg event for the children of the City’s Adopted Marine battalion, the 1/5 Marines at Camp Pendelton.

Members of the team stuffed over 2,000 Easter eggs for the event over a three-day period at City Hall.

The Costa Mesa Community came out in full support of the Marines with over 3,000 items being donated in the steam trailer located in the City Hall lobby.  Congrats to all.

Costa Mesa High School is opening the doors of real world music, history, and arts education in a once-in-a-lifetime trip for a select number of students.  To kick off their spring break, fourteen members of the school band will be traveling to New Orleans and immersing themselves in the local history and jazz culture for five days.

They’ll be joined by fourteen members of the Huntington Beach High School Band and several parents from both schools under the leadership of Mrs. Sandy Gilboe and Mr. Gregg Gilboe, directors of the bands at CMHS and HBHS, respectively.

New Orleans is widely renowned as the birthplace of Jazz music. The students will have the opportunity to experience several live performances, including a visit to Snug Harbor Bistro to hear Ellis Marsalis (patriarch of the famous Marsalis jazz family), a private concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Cajun music and culture at Mulates Restaurant.

Scheduled tours of the French Quarter, Oak Valley Plantation, Cajun Pride Swamp, and the Natchez Steamboat will provide the students a first-hand history lesson unlike any they have ever experienced.

On Tuesday, March 22 a total of 284 students from four various neighboring schools graced the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall with a common love of musical theater bringing them all to one stage.

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts presented Disney Musicals in Schools “Student Share Celebration” that featured students grades 3-6 all whom performed from selected musical numbers before a crowd of enthusiastic friends, family and teachers.

For 17 weeks’ students, teachers and professional teaching artists worked collaboratively during after school sessions, learning, rehearsing and performing scenes, songs and dance numbers from some of Disney’s beloved musicals.

The objective being to create a continual theater program in the participating schools.

The culmination of all their efforts resulted in presenting and performing a live 30-minute Disney KIDS Musical performance on each individual campus. Following their respective performances, the student’s grand finale was a performance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts as part of the Disney Musicals in “Schools Student Share Celebration.”

This provided an extraordinary opportunity for them to showcase all their great efforts and perform a signature song from their musical in front of students, family members, faculty and associates from Disney.

Disney Musicals in Schools is designed to create sustainable musical theater programs in public elementary schools. School teams are provided with the training and tools necessary to support student productions and empower them to continue this theater tradition in their school for years to come.

Mariners Christian School athletes had a few reasons to celebrate at their Awards Banquet on Wednesday, March 16: a strong final standing as second place in the League; new uniforms, shoes, and equipment for the entire team; and an extraordinary basketball coach in former All-Star player Schea Cotton.

A previous professional basketball player of 10 years, Schea Cotton was a champion at Mater Dei in 1994 and 1995, touted as one of America’s biggest high school talents, and later played in college at Alabama. Through a series of circumstances and events, Cotton’s career plans for the NBA did not come to fruition, but he is passionate about sharing his story with others and using his talent to positively impact young people.

Currently Cotton operates the Schea Cotton Basketball Academy for youth. He is also promoting a documentary called “ManChild: The Schea Cotton Story,” with a goal of entering it into film festivals such as the 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival. The film explores Cotton’s experience as a high profile young athlete and the pressures that come with that status. He hopes to reach young athletes as well as the entire basketball world with his message.

“MCS is extremely fortunate to have Schea Cotton’s involvement in our athletic program this year. Beyond his incredible talent and experience, Schea has a strong Christian faith and attitude that is inspiring for our students,” said MCS Athletic Director Mac Thompson.

In addition to his role as Head Basketball Coach, Cotton leveraged his connections with the Schea Cotton Foundation, Schea Cotton Basketball Academy, and Doctors of Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance and Ear Institute to secure 17 pairs of free Nike basketball shoes for the team, as well as new warm up t-shirts and equipment.

“It’s been a real pleasure serving as coach for the sixth graders at MCS,” Cotton said. “I felt the season was a real success in that the kids all developed, improved, and came together to play for one another and to glorify God.”

For more information on Shea Cotton and his basketball programs for youth, visit this site.

The Costa Mesa High School Foundation will hold its annual meeting on Friday, March 25 from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Fireside Lounge.

The annual meeting, which is open to the public, will include an introduction of the new Foundation Board of Directors, a CMHS Arts Academy update, artist showcase and special performances by the CMHS Madrigals and Music Department.

The Foundation was formed in 2003 to manage an endowment donated by CJ Segerstrom & Sons that funds enhanced educational opportunities at Costa Mesa Middle & High School. The Foundation has contributed more than $500,000 in teacher grants directly from the interest earned on the endowment.  In 2013, the Foundation began to fundraise for additional discretionary funding with the annual Gala and Home Tour.

The CMHS Board of Directors includes parents, alumni and teachers, as well as business and community leaders.  Click here for more information about the Costa Mesa High School Foundation, and click here to RSVP to the annual meeting.

Costa Mesa real estate company Torelli Realty is proud to announce its annual Egg Hunt, “Egg-Citement” will take place this Saturday, March 26 from 9:30 a.m. to -12 p.m. at Tanager Park.

Torelli Realty has sponsored this event for over 25 years and it is a highlight of the spring season for children and adults alike.

Egg-Citement offers an Egg Hunt that is broken down into age groups for the children. The first round of the egg hunt for children from 2-4 starts at 10 a.m. and each successive age group goes for 15 minutes, grabbing candy and toys, until everyone gets through. There will also be pony rides, a petting zoo with small live farm animals, coloring and jellybean contests, and a bounce house.

The Easter Bunny himself will also be present and available to take photos with all attendees.

Besides being a highly anticipated event that brings the community together, Egg-Citement also gives local schools a chance to do some much needed fundraising. The event and attractions are free, however several local schools/organizations will be selling concessions to raise money for their programs.

Click here to see a flier about the event.

The Costa Mesa Public Services Department will soon be initiating the construction phase of a much-needed school zone traffic calming project.

This project will target multiple locations throughout the City. The project will include replacement of all school zone warning flashers with solar powered devices and improved intelligent technology, which enables them to be activated when children are in school.

The project also includes installation of 20 radar speed feedback signs that will have built-in technology to collect speed and volume data that will allow city staff to implement future safety upgrades and enable better planning of focused enforcement in and around Costa Mesa schools.

Other improvements include installation of 220 pedestrian count down heads at various signalized intersections in the vicinity of Costa Mesa schools.

Award of a contract for this project by City Council is anticipated in April 2016. Installations would follow in Summer of 2016.

Costa Mesa Parks and Community Services staff attended that California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) annual conference in Long Beach to pick up a big statewide award during the closing gala.

The Costa Mesa staff was one of only seven agencies presented with an “Award of Excellence” for creating community through innovative programming.

The city won the award for its Ranch Afterschool Program, which is a collaboration with the OC Fair & Event Center and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

During this unique after school experience,  students focus on agricultural concepts like gardening, livestock, and leather working.

The students have a hands-on experience caring for animals on the Farm which includes: chickens, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas, cattle, and horses.

They learn responsible animal care by cleaning stalls, grooming, and exercising the animals.

Additionally, the Farm dedicates land for each student to create and maintain an individual garden. Students’ gardening responsibilities include planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, inspecting for pests and harvesting their plot.

Agricultural education helps children learn about healthy food choices and teaches them different ways to access fresh fruits and vegetables.  Most importantly, students begin to understand the deep impact agriculture has in their lives past, future and present.

“This free program is a true collaboration and would not be possible without the support of the Orange County Fairgrounds,” said Ashley Ocasio, the city’s assistant recreation supervisor. “This strategic partnership provides many Costa Mesa youth the opportunity to experience an unique after-school program, in which the focus in on agriculture and farming”

The California Park & Recreation Society awards program recognizes outstanding achievement in the areas of facility design, park planning, marketing and communication, and community improvement and programming through demonstrating the principals of resourcefulness, execution, accomplishment and alignment with the parks and recreation mission.

Four years ago, the band at Estancia High School was in bad shape.

The musical group had dwindled to a mere six students, the program was run by a temporary teacher and there had been quite a bit of staff turnover over the years.

Then, the Estancia TeWinkle Schools Foundation and Band and Music teacher Stacy Neacsto came marching in and things began to change.

“The Foundation helped us to provide instruments and uniforms as we were retooling the band,” said former Principal Kirk Bauermeister, now a district administrator.  “There was no booster club to fund raise and we needed to give these students and teacher hope for the future.”

Bauermeister said they asked Neacsto and the kids to dream of what the band’s potential could be and then put together a three-year plan for its future.

With the financial help of the Foundation, those dreams became reality.

“The Foundation has always enabled us to dream,” Bauermeister said.  “One of the biggest hurdles is money and community support.  The Foundation has always been able to provide both.   So, if we could dream it and put together a solid plan, we then had a vehicle that could move that dream to a reality.”

The Foundation gives both Estancia and TeWinkle a combined $50,000 on average each year and additional funding for programs like the band get highlighted at the Foundation’s annual gala, which this year will take place this Saturday March 19 from 6 to 11 p.m. Click here for more information about this year’s New York-themed gala, which will be held at the Avenue of the Arts Hotel (formerly Wyndham).

“Our fund-a-need raised at the gala has allowed us to give $7,750 to TeWinkle and $15,000 to Estancia which is in addition to the $50,000 we give on average every year between the two schools,” said Foundation Board Member Hydee Beth.

Thanks to Foundation funding, the band has grown so big that it now fills two classrooms. And that’s not all.

At Estancia High School, foundation grants have fully funded the Apprentice Program – a new comprehensive support system for incoming freshmen and provided support for the school’s Puente program for high- achieving Hispanic students.

Foundation grants have funded the purchase of ancillary materials for mathematics, books for literature circles, smart boards, computer labs and cutting edge technology for classroom use, among other things.

At TeWinkle, foundation grants have provided up-to-date technology in nearly every classroom, including smart boards and LCD projectors. Foundation grants have also met the school’s need for extensive Social Study reference materials available for student use in the library.

Formed in 2003, the Estancia and TeWinkle Schools Foundation was made possible through a $1 million donation from C. J. Segerstrom & Sons. For more information go to ETSFoundation.org or call 949-515-6500.

On Wednesday morning March 16, several hundred civic, business and elected leaders, dignitaries and war veterans celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Heroes Hall veteran exhibit that have a permanent home at the OC Fair & Event Center.

“This is dedicated to the honor and sacrifices to those who served our country,” said Michele Richards, the vice president of business development for the fair and event center.

Richards was one of a number of speakers who included board members Doug La Belle and Nick Beradino and Bolton Colburn, who runs the Exhibits and Education Department at the fair and event center.

The groundbreaking duties for what will be the county’s first museum dedicated to veterans fell to those who served in wars from Afghanistan to World War II.

Those veterans included one of the last remaining  Tuskegee Airmen, Robert Friend, Korean War vet Robert Dugan, Vietnam vet Frank Orzio, Desert Storm vet Douglas Wooley and Claudia Acosta of the U.S. Army.

The OC Fair & Event Center was once part of the Santa Ana Army Air base, a 1,300-plus acre training facility that was active during World War II. That base is now home to the fairgrounds, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary and TeWinkle Park.

“As the former home of the Santa Ana Army Air Base, the OC Fair & Event Center is a natural fit for the Heroes Hall Exhibit. We are honored to host this historic exhibit and look forward to seeing it become a reality in the coming months,” the fair’s CEO Kathy Kramer said in a statement.

The exhibit is expected to encompass more than 12,000 square feet with indoor/outdoor exhibit space. The former “Memorial Gardens” building will be relocated and reconstructed as part of the overall exhibit, which will also include memorabilia and tributes to California veterans.

Crews are expected to break ground in March with an expected completion date of Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2016. The exhibit is expected to attract more than 1.5 million visitors each year.

In 2015, the OC Fair & Event Center Board voted in favor of a $2 million contribution to start the funding efforts for Heroes Hall.

The Board also approved the creation of the Heroes Hall Veterans Foundation to lead in fundraising for the ongoing maintenance and operation of Heroes Hall.

The city of Costa Mesa donated $25,000 toward the project, one of many local entities who have showed their support.

To learn more about how to donate and for periodic updates on the Heroes Hall exhibit click here.