Mailbag: Colleen Island project only benefits the developer

What was made perfectly clear last week to all of us in the annexation area is that the Costa Mesa City Council majority believes its form of representative government is not supposed to work in the best interests of our 50-plus property owners.

Rather, Mayor Jim Righeimer, Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Mensinger and Councilman Gary Monahan have worked diligently and rather effectively to ensure that they represent the interests of outside businesses, developers, political allies and their friends in those industries.

Not one of our requests in this process was ever supported: Slow down so we can take time to work on the conflicts between our current county zoning rules and the city’s; protect the integrity of our neighborhood and quality of life by maintaining our existing lot sizes; ensure that existing lots cannot be divided and higher-density homes built on our quiet streets in the future.

This is the only annexation process we have found that increases housing density from existing Orange County zoning.

Although this flies in the face of how we believe City Council members should respond to residents, we now understand that this council majority has always focused efforts on the outsiders, who are looking to pull a profit out of rather than invest in the community.

If you believe a City Council should work for the benefit of the residents and the current businesses in the city, then you have to vote to change the majority.

We know which candidates will support our interests, and we will work hard to make certain they get elected. We ask that all of Costa Mesa choose the form of representative government they deserve, one responsive to residents and local businesses.

Richard Alexander

R. Jason Coulston & Holly Roberts

Ken and Lori DeFeo

Jonathan and Cheryl Fletcher

Roy Glauthier

Mel Hanley

James and Pam Hardenbergh

The writers live in the unincorporated Santa Ana/Colleen Annexation area.