Latino Input Sought on Renewal

The consultants had almost completed their plans to convert Costa Mesa’s largely Latino West Side into a coastal community that could boast expensive homes perched on bluffs and a thriving business center.

After studying the West Side’s irregular zoning patterns, traffic and economy, they were ready to submit a final proposal. But, less than two months before the City Council votes on the revitalization project, community activists have pointed out that something is missing.

“The plan is going to affect the Latino population greatly, but guess what: There was no Latino input at the meetings,” said Maria Elena Avila, owner of Avila’s El Ranchito restaurant on Placentia Avenue. “The consultants were three-quarters of the way through before the city realized that they were not doing enough to reach out to the Latino community. The city realizes that it needs to build a relationship with the Latino community.”

To that end, the city is creating a committee of residents, business owners and activists that will study the plan and seek feedback from Latinos who live, work and own businesses in the West Side. City officials still hope to bring the plan to the council in November, but they are willing to wait for the community to have its say.

Though school enrollment figures suggest the Latino population on the West Side has grown by at least one-third in the 1990s, “we’re not sure that anybody has a really good, solid handle on what the demographics are,” City Manager Allan L. Roeder said. “But it’s becoming more obvious through the process that this is an important link. We can’t plan the future or create a vision in the absence of the people who live and work there.”

Few residents and business owners know of the redevelopment plan, which is still sketchy, so no one is sure if it will generate opposition.

But instead of complaining publicly about a lack of involvement or leveling accusations of racism, Latino community leaders resolved to forge a relationship with City Hall. Activists realize that it is especially difficult to reach recent immigrants who have not been trained to be active participants in government, Avila said.

The idea for the advisory committee was Avila’s, but it was Councilwoman Libby Cowan who asked her for advice on how the city could reach Latinos on the West Side.

“Everyone wanted for the community to be part of the process,” said Manfredo Lespier, president of the city’s Latino Business Council. “The reality is that the West Side is Latino. They should have a voice in what happens there. I think the civic leaders deserve credit. They have noticed a problem, or a prospective problem, and have been willing to go back to the drawing board.”

It was former Mayor Peter Buffa who pushed for a revitalization project on the West Side to match Triangle Square on the east. Buffa envisioned building a string of expensive single-family homes west of Placentia Avenue along the bluff, an expanded light-industrial corridor on Placentia south of Wilson Street to 16th Street, and townhomes or apartments in areas with abandoned properties.

Possibilities examined by the city’s consultants ranged from a package of low-cost cosmetic improvements--such as better landscaping in the business center at 19th Street and Placentia Avenue--to a more sweeping plan that would call for steps such as demolishing dilapidated buildings to make room for a supermarket.

Chamber of Commerce figures show that nearly 3,000 people are employed in an area bounded on the north by 19th Street, on the east by Placentia Avenue and by city boundaries to the south and west. Most jobs are in manufacturing, construction, engineering or research and development.

Cowan said she wants to tread carefully, to make sure those jobs aren’t lost with redevelopment. “I’m very willing to slow the process to make sure we do it correctly. One of my main concerns is that we do not displace the employment base here,” she said.

“A lot of people describe the West Side as run-down or blighted,” Chamber President Ed Fawcett said. “They may not be the nicest homes in town, but it’s a vibrant business area. I know a lot of people who would like for it to be an extension of Newport Beach and paint this as a blighted, low-paying area. [But] there are a lot of good jobs in this area.”

Because the city’s consultants, Los Angeles-based EIP Associates, were not charged with analyzing the area’s demographics, a group of UC Irvine graduate students will compile a social profile of the West Side and study similar projects completed in other cities, said Kris Day, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

“Because of lack of foresight and planning, the West Side has old boatyards next to houses and an incredible piece of land, five miles from the beach, that is not being used,” said Karen McGlinn, chairwoman of Families of Costa Mesa, a social service agency. “There are people who feel that the lower-income people need to be sent to Anaheim. It is a beautiful piece of land we need to improve and incorporate its uses for all of our residents.”

Despite bilingual fliers mailed to Latino homes and businesses before the workshops, only a few Latinos attended the sessions.

“That has to do with understanding the culture,” Lespier said. “I think the government did what it could with the resources it had. But they didn’t take into account that a lot of Latinos feel like they don’t belong or can’t participate in something like that. They need to be comfortable with the fact that they have a voice. The city now realizes it hasn’t been able to capture that segment of our community, and they want our help.”

Cowan and Roeder hope the West Side committee will become an official advisory board to the City Council, offering advice on all matters pertinent to the Latino community.

“The relationship is even more important than getting the input on the West Side plan,” Avila said. “I see this committee as a bridge between the community and the civic leaders. I wanted to prevent permanent damage from being done like we’ve see in Anaheim between the community and the politicians. It is more important to build bridges than to attack.”