The Political Landscape:

Despite frequent city council talk of changing Costa Mesa’s day labor policy by adding a job center and tightening anti-solicitation ordinances, the city’s budget for next fiscal year doesn’t include any funds for the effort, drawing questions from council members at Tuesday’s meeting.

The council also debated raising business license fees in the city, which have been static for more than 20 years, according to City Manager Allan Roeder.

Business licenses in Costa Mesa cost as little as $25, while those in surrounding cities like Newport Beach cost hundreds.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon brought up the issue, saying that by raising the fee only 2% the city would put an extra $2 million in the city coffers.

Roeder said such a modest increase would not even bring Costa Mesa’s fees up to the Orange County average and that the idea was something that the city would “definitely have to look at” in the future.

If the license fees don’t increase and city salaries continue to rise to meet those of surrounding communities then the city will have “less money for other things besides personnel costs,” Roeder said.

In order to change the fees, city officials said that the proposal would have to be put forth for the voters in the form of a ballot measure on the November ballot. If that were the goal, those interested would have until the end of July to take the necessary steps to get it on this year’s ballot.

Activist group hires public relations firm

In the spirit of Mark Twain, who once said “the public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all,” the rehabilitation home activist group Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach has hired a public relations firm to do a little image polishing.

The group has hired the public relations firm DeMo Communications to issue periodic press releases about its ongoing battle against what it views as an over concentration of rehabilitation homes in the city.

DeMo’s other clients include a freight management company and a social networking website for tennis enthusiasts.

Concerned Citizens describes itself as a “nonprofit community organization” in its press releases. The group has already spent about $250,000 on legal fees and planning experts to face off with city officials on Newport’s rehabilitation homes ordinance.