COSTA MESA : Residents Voice Concerns on Crime
Concerned about rising crime, more than 300 residents of the Shalimar Drive area presented city officials this week with a list of suggestions for making their streets safer.
After two gang-related shooting incidents earlier this year in Costa Mesa’s west-side neighborhood, police and city officials proposed to ban curbside parking and close some streets to help prevent drive-by shootings.
Some residents objected, though, saying they should have been consulted on any plan affecting them.
“We were never asked,” said Paty Madueno, a member of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, a grass-roots organization affiliated with St. Joachim Catholic Church.
Mayor Joe Erickson and Capt. David Brooks of the Costa Mesa Police Department, who met with the large delegation at the church parish hall, heard requests for more police foot patrols, better housing and more activities for teens.
Erickson said the city will evaluate the recommendations, but he made no promises.
Members of the group were heartened anyway.
“I think it went really well,” Madueno said, adding that the real significance of the meeting was that, for the first time, the community stands united to solve its problems.
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