Leece

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece has announced her intention to run for reelection. Leece, who is seeking a second term, so far is unopposed in the November contest. The deadline to file paperwork is Aug. 6. A private reception was held for Leece on Wednesday at Onotria Wine Country Cuisine restaurant in Costa Mesa. About 35 supporters attended, including Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach and Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor. “This is a great city and now that my kids are grown, I’m enjoying giving backing to my city and working on projects that will make our city better,” said Leece, 61. Leece’s said her priorities are to keep Costa Mesa safe and find ways to attract more businesses.

Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece says she’ll use her new position with the League of California Cities to fight to protect businesses from environmental legislation that, in her opinion, is driving businesses out of the Golden State. Leece has been picked to serve on the Orange County division of the league’s 2010 Policy Committee on Environmental Quality. The league, which is made up of various committees comprised of city officials from across the state, discusses policies and issues facing California.

Costa Mesa took a step toward possibly displaying the motto “In God We Trust” in the city’s Council Chambers Tuesday night. Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece brought the issue to her council colleagues at a study session, asking them to consider inscribing the phrase in the chambers and characterizing the motto as a secular show of unity, rather than an endorsement of religion. “The intent is to encourage patriotism. It’s not religious; it’s a completely secular purpose,” Leece said.

Deirdre Newman "Who is that stranger striding in from the Westside of the district? Can we trust him with our precious children?" Tom Egan's opening lines from candidate forums were receiving a narrow, though still stunning "yes" Tuesday night as he led incumbent Wendy Leece 52% to 48% with 92 of 178 precincts reporting. Egan's slight lead, which he maintained from early in the night, was all the more significant given he was the only school board challenger poised to beat an incumbent.

There are no more illegal immigrants in Costa Mesa. There is no more crime, either. All of the development issues have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction and the Westside of the city is perfect. Costa Mesa gangs are gone, too. There is no trash anywhere. Traffic moves freely everywhere, and city coffers have a multimillion-dollar surplus. You'd have walked away with the same impression if you had witnessed Tuesday's City Council meeting. After stumbling through his opening remarks on a really important subject and mumbling something about it being a "past practice," Mayor Allan Mansoor said, "I would like to request that council member [Linda]

A forum is for the purpose of open discussion of public matters, not for misinformation and airing of personal dislikes. A letter in the Forum, signed by a person who is neither a resident of Costa Mesa nor a member of the Costa Mesa Senior Center, made an untrue accusation and called for the firing of two of the center’s hard-working employees and people whom I know to be dedicated to the welfare of our seniors. Every question raised by Councilwoman [Wendy] Leece has been answered promptly and thoroughly.

COSTA MESA — Reading the fact in print might make her blush, but new Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Wendy Leece has risque newspapers to thank for starting her public service career. Leece, 58, was sworn in Tuesday as a council member, after winning 24.4% of the votes in the Nov. 7 council election. Her new job goes onto a long resume: She's a mother and a grandmother, and a former member of the Newport-Mesa school board and the city parks commission, and she has worked as a teacher and construction project administrator.

Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley want Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to cancel the state’s proposed sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds. The issue will be taken up at tonight’s City Council meeting. The two councilwomen are scheduled to make a joint presentation on the fairgrounds and will ask fellow council members to vote in favor of requesting that the governor cancel the proposed sale of the 150-acre site in Costa Mesa. “We are just requesting confirmation from the City Council that we are all acting unified so that everybody knows that we are united in our position, which is in the best interest for the city of Costa Mesa to cancel the sale,” Foley said.

The Costa Mesa City Council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to extend the hours of the Target at 3030 Harbor Blvd. six days a week from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., nearly five months after store representatives acknowledged repeatedly breaking its hourly operational agreement with the city. The new hours are effective immediately. Councilwoman Wendy Leece and Councilman Steve Mensinger dissented, stating their disapproval for Target's violation of the agreement instated in April 2000 and the inadequate community outreach.

Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer wants to reallocate $5 million to $6 million in the city budget for improvements in the city's infrastructure, such as roads, sidewalks, sports fields and flood-prone areas. But that could mean cuts to public safety, personnel and other crucial services, warned Councilwoman Wendy Leece. During the March 20 council meeting, Righeimer asked city CEO Tom Hatch to suggest about $5 million in reductions that could then be reallocated toward the $12.2 million in unfunded projects planned for 2012-13.

"Got Books?" will be the title of a speech by Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Wendy Leece, when she appears as the featured speaker at the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries annual meeting. The event will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Mesa Verde United Methodist Church (across the street from the Mesa Verde Library at 1701 Baker Street). The public is invited, but call ahead to ensure that enough chairs are available. Please leave a message at (714) 438-0517. Leece, a long-time supporter of our city's libraries, will speak about Costa Mesa's library space needs and why we all need to make this a priority in our list of goals, both long- and short-term.

COSTA MESA — The City Council gave preliminary approval this week to an ordinance that would ban smoking at all city parks. Going along with a Parks and Recreation Commission recommendation, the council in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night approved the first reading of an ordinance that prohibits smoking within 50 feet of Costa Mesa's parks, the city's three athletic fields, two community gardens and Balearic Community Center's children's area....

COSTA MESA — Earlier this month Councilman Eric Bever suggested the city stop lone council members from putting items on the agenda. Doing so, however, would have further isolated Councilwoman Wendy Leece, the only person on the council opposed to proposals to lay off city workers and replace them with contractors. In a thinly veiled criticism of one of Leece's proposals at the Aug. 2 meeting, Bever said then that too often "junk" ends up on the agenda that is purely symbolic and is certain to die without support.

COSTA MESA — With a reduced police force, residents will have to be vigilant, Councilwoman Wendy Leece said during her town hall meeting Monday. "The burden is really on us right now to keep our city safe," Leece, the Costa Mesa City Council's lone opponent of the proposed city layoffs, said. Over about two hours Monday night at the Neighborhood Community Center, Leece outlined how the city is constrained by legal loopholes and conflicting laws on dealing with some 100 rehabilitation homes and 50 marijuana dispensaries, which she suggested can attract crime, and why residents need to become their own watchdogs.

COSTA MESA - It was an agenda ripe for debate. Among the items were immigration checks and cutting council members' benefits. But it was Pop Warner football, and the organization's request that Costa Mesa cover its field-use fees for up to $10,000, that brought early fireworks. It was an appeal that Councilwoman Wendy Leece called "a little disingenuous," especially when asking "for a gift of public funds in light of the situation we're in. " She argued that the issue wasn't really the money Pop Warner was requesting - which would help the youth organization pay the Newport-Mesa school district for using Jim Scott Stadium at Estancia High School - but the principle.

COSTA MESA — Councilwoman Wendy Leece wants her peers to join her in reducing the City Council's salaries and benefits. The largely symbolic gesture proposed for Tuesday's council meeting would net little in savings, but Leece hopes it will show the city's workforce that the council is willing to do its part to cut costs. "I think it's time in the spirit of asking our employees to take reductions and layoffs that we have this discussion," Leece said. The savings are minimal in a $114 million budget: even a 25% cut to council members' salaries and health benefits would save about $37,500 a year.

COSTA MESA — In an emergency meeting Friday, the Costa Mesa Redevelopment Agency passed on a chance to inject $1.3 million into the city's general fund after the board failed to second board member Wendy Leece's motion to repay a loan to the city. City staff told the board that lawmakers in Sacramento are working on a bill that could dissolve all of California's 425 redevelopment agencies and take the money that belongs to them with it. Costa Mesa's agency has more than $10 million, but most of that is already designated to city projects.

COSTA MESA — Councilwoman Wendy Leece said that she believes that the selection of Costa Mesa's mayor and mayor pro tem was made during private conversations in advance of Tuesday's council meeting. The former mayor pro tem, who wanted to become mayor, on Thursday asked City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow to provide her with the information she needs to file a complaint under the Brown Act, a California law that requires most government policymaking decisions to be conducted in public.