Sweet Orange

Are we all socialist now? Based on comments from some surprising sources, the answer to this question might be “Yes.  At least if it is to our advantage at the moment.”

A curious example on the city level can be found in Costa Mesa. As you know, the California budget is a mess. We’re in the “red” by the billions. One of the solutions that the governor suggested and is now in the process of being made a reality is the sale of state assets, including an iconic piece of Orange County land in Costa Mesa, the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Well, the Costa Mesa city council, that bastion of free-market rights and a let-the-private-sector-do-it attitude, is not about to let the market have its way with the fairgrounds. As Mayor Mansoor, an ardent free-marketeer, stated, he is not interested in selling “the heart of the community.” Apparently, even the most hard-core capitalist doesn’t think that the bottom line should be judged solely in a monetary way.

In spite of Costa Mesa’s objections, the city could not keep the state of California from putting the fairgrounds on the market. However, Costa Mesa is setting up land-use restrictions that will ensure that the Orange County Fairgrounds are used as a fairgrounds and events center only, no matter who the owners end up being. Of course, this greatly reduces the amount that someone or some organization would pay for the land. The state’s Department of General Services, which is in charge of selling the land, is not pleased, and the possibility of litigation is being implied, if not outright threatened.

Some, including some in Costa Mesa, have been critical of the land-use regulations that Irvine has put on the development of the former El Toro Marine Air Station land. They feel that the El Toro land that is being transformed into the Orange County Great Park (Orange County’s first metropolitan park) and the Great Park Neighborhoods (a housing, commercial and open space development by the home building company Lennar and its partners) should be developed strictly by market forces. In other words, no land-use restrictions.

However, what Costa Mesa is considering for the fairgrounds is similar to what Irvine has done for the El Toro land. Costa Mesa wants to ensure that the fairgrounds are used in a way that they feel will provide the most benefit for the area and Costa Mesa residents. Irvine’s intention for the El Toro (and now Orange County Great Park) land is similar. It seems that neither city wants another subdivision-mall development (or public airport) plopped down on large tracts of prime real estate that have historic significance.

Apparently, economic hard times are making for some strange bedfellows in the O.C. and the discovery of “socialists” in the most unusual places.