About Us:
Why Costa Mesa First?
Costa Mesa has been growing, and it will experience even more growth in the coming years. This presents a rare moment of opportunity. Our neighborhoods can uniquely benefit by applying smart growth principles based on the lessons learned elsewhere. Costa Mesa First is a general purpose recipient committee; a non-partisan team offering knowledge and tools to help voters decide how to keep our city vibrant and healthy.
What do we do?
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Educate Costa Mesans about growth issues and choices
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Engage you and encourage you to participate with us in city issues
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Build a broad group of residents who study and identify good development, ways to make the development process fair and predictable, and to encourage collaboration
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Help decision-makers and community leaders implement smart growth policies
What do we provide?
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Advocacy/Participation: Unite proponents of well-managed growth and help them express to city leaders the need to shape policy around smart growth principles
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Education: Workshops, presentations and programs that cover planning, design, transportation principles and other smart growth strategies
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Information/Assistance: Books, guides, and articles to help residents
How will we help you?
We will work to support you in:
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Expressing your concerns at city meetings including City Council, Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, and others
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Writing emails to City Council and Planning Commission, and letters to the editor of newspapers
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Encouraging you to serve on advisory commissions and committees
Some of the areas we will focus on are:
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Addressing the home ownership to rental imbalance in Costa Mesa
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Encouraging affordable housing for seniors and to enable businesses to attract and retain a workforce
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Making sure development pays its own way with regard to impact on city service levels (traffic, water, sewer, roads, parks, bike and walking paths, open space systems, etc.)