MICHAEL CLIFFORD ON

* NEW CODE REGULATIONS:

The Costa Mesa City Council earlier this year approved a number of

code revisions in response to residents’ complaints about property

maintenance. The city last month distributed a flier detailing the

changes, which include prohibitions for dead or dying landscaping, and is

enforcing the new rules.

Clifford said the new codes are a good idea but added that the city

must find a way to help residents meet them if they cannot afford to on

their own.

“Those who refuse to meet [the new code regulations] should be given

fair treatment and be helped to understand what we are trying to do,” he

said. “If after doing everything we can to get things done the easy way

then, and only then, should we resort to fines.”

* WEST SIDE SPECIFIC PLAN:

Since 1998, the city has targeted the West Side for an intense

revitalization effort. The aging area has for years lacked economic

vitality and has become rundown.

The newly revised plan to improve the West Side includes making the

neighborhood more pedestrian-friendly, replacing some existing apartments

with townhomes or smaller home developments and cleaning up businesses.

Clifford said the revised plan is “a good start, but there’s still a

long way to go.

“We need more input from the people in the area itself before making

any significant decisions,” he said.

* 17TH STREET IMPROVEMENT PLAN:

The city has proposed widening 17th Street from four to six lanes and

making improvements on the street to reduce traffic, but residents and

merchants say adding lanes would ruin the “mom and pop” feel of the

street.

Clifford is against widening the street, which he said would “ruin

businesses and cost jobs,” but is in favor of adding traffic signals and

bus turnouts.

* CITY BUDGET:

Clifford said he thinks this year’s $14.5 million surplus should be

used to improve the city, such as East 17th Street and the West Side.

* TRAFFIC PROBLEMS:

Clifford is in favor of extending the Costa Mesa Freeway to Coast

Highway, with offramps at 17th and 19th streets, and is against building

a bridge at 19th Street.

The freeway extension “would alleviate the backup ... and still allow

easy access to those whose destination is businesses on those streets,”

he said. “A 19th Street bridge is unnecessary because Adams and Victoria

already provide routes through Costa Mesa and there is -- of course --

Coast Highway in Newport Beach.”