Tom Egan

"Dogpatch West" is what we can call Westside Costa Mesa if the City Council allows the 10 nonconforming businesses to stay in their single-family houses on West 19th Street. It was a misbegotten decision by a council 37 years ago to proactively create a "transition zone," anticipating a bridge across the Santa Ana River. It was political thinking worthy of Sen. Jack S. Phogbound to give a dispensation to businesses that allowed them to infiltrate a residential neighborhood before a bridge was even built.

Mark Twain cautioned us to "Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel." I wouldn't dream of doing that. Rather, I'd like to do the opposite, and compliment the Pilot; I want you to know how delighted I am when the Daily Pilot reports the truth. Now I know you are occasionally hampered in telling the truth; after all, you have only so many column inches of space available for a story. For example, in the story about the Job Center ("Job Center changes on the way," Wednesday)

Was the money wasted on the specific plan for Westside Costa Mesa? Some have been asking this. Since a non-negligible amount of city revenue has been spent on the plan, I believe the money and time were well spent even though the original goal was not achieved. Rather, a better goal has been achieved. Granted, if government is viewed as a gumball machine, then the draft plan was a bust. The only product to fall into the tray was a 127-page document that will not become part of the city's general plan, and will only be used as a resource for planning.

Deirdre Newman Tom Egan said his analytical background and team-building skills will serve him well as a school board trustee. In his extensive experience working as an engineer, Egan has had to manage diverse projects and deal with a wide range of personalities. "I have quite a reputation working as a bridge builder," Egan said. "[In one consulting job], there were two teams that didn't like each other, but I was trusted by both sides and wasn't even an employee."

  EDITOR'S NOTE This is the third of three parts of the Daily Pilot's salute to the three outgoing members of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees. During the last few weeks in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District boardroom, it became a ritual. At the end of the meeting, when each trustee gave his or her own report, Tom Egan would adjust the microphone and in his calm, scratchy voice, relay the latest news about the global economy. He called it his Postcard from the Flat World — named after Thomas L. Friedman's book "The World is Flat," which argues that America's job market is increasingly in danger of drifting overseas.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District board members plan to hold a special meeting on Tuesday to honor three outgoing trustees, Serene Stokes, Linda Sneen and Tom Egan. Beginning at 7 p.m. in the district boardroom, administrators will formally recognize the three board members and open up the floor for public comments. Sneen and Egan, who both joined the board in 2002, did not run for reelection this year. Stokes, a trustee since 1994, lost in the November election to challenger Karen Yelsey.

Deirdre Newman As of Saturday, only a few campaign disclosure reports by school board candidates had been received by the county Registration and Elections Department. While the deadline for the filing period from July 1 to Sept. 30 was Saturday, it was extended until Monday because the deadline fell on the weekend, said Christina Avila, campaign disclosure official. The reports received so far show that Tom Egan and Serene Stokes both raised more than $10,000 in contributions.

Every letter and every argument by people who believe that man-made climate change is either a hoax or too small to worry about fails to include an important ingredient: prudence. Ultimately, it may turn out that they were right about man-made climate change having been a negligible problem. But what if they are wrong? The risk of being wrong is high indeed, because it could mean death for all humans. Tom Williams may not be personally affected by climate change, but his heirs might be (“Earth is repeating cooling cycle,” Dec. 29)

Deirdre Newman The Newport-Mesa Unified school board would like to boost its presence in the city with live broadcasts of meetings, but isn't sure if networking all the schools is necessary. On Tuesday, the board embraced trustee Tom Egan's idea to broadcast its meetings live in Newport Beach. The decision encouraged Steve Glyer, director of educational technology, to continue working with city officials to gain a dedicated access channel. Newport Beach residents now wait 11 days to see the latest school board meeting.

The comments by Chriss Street should not be surprising to anyone ("Community Commentary: Deficit spending a bad move for U.S.," July 25). The comments by Tom Egan are surprising and seem to be more emotional than historical fact ("Sounding Off: Treasurer's arguments were shallow," July 28). President Obama is doing pretty much what he said he was going to do. The effects were easily predictable as they were, as far back as the FDR administration. Henry Morgenthau served as FDR's Treasury secretary.

Now that the Supreme Court majority has opined that corporations are persons who have the freedom to speak, is it too much to expect that corporations listen, too? It?s entertaining to imagine what they could learn, in particular, if they listened in a place of worship. The Daily Pilot?s ?In Theory? on Feb. 6 asked religious leaders: ?Do pets have a place at services?? There were mixed responses to that question, but there might be unanimity on: ?Do corporations have a place at services?

While Costa Mesa is a patriotic town, it’s also a “don’t tread on me” kind of town. We have patriots who are Christians, and we have patriots who are not. It would be divisive for this community of live and let live residents if a city-sponsored motto appears to be promoting religion. If the motto is to be displayed in City Hall, Costa Mesa should follow the city of Bakersfield’s lead and signal in no uncertain terms that the intent is to encourage national patriotism, not religious evangelism.

The dimly lit Five Crowns dining room in Corona del Mar with its low ceilings and brick fireplace became a shrine dedicated to old-fashioned conservative nostalgia as Barry Goldwater Jr. paid homage to his late father, who championed a conservative philosophy that his son rarely sees in today’s political discourse. The former senator from Arizona and unsuccessful presidential candidate stood for a conservatism marked by less government involvement, lower taxes, and fewer rules and regulations, his son reminisced at a Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club breakfast Tuesday, ideals the present Republican leadership has all but abandoned, he said.

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach plans to be a very busy man in 2007. And this comes on the heels of a year he calls "perhaps the busiest of my life." "With fundraising, running a campaign, assisting a successor, transitioning out of one job and into another, hiring a new staff, being sworn in and hitting the ground running, this year has been packed," he said. When asked for his New Year's resolutions, the newly elected supervisor offered up a whopping 11. Much of them are professional ones as he commits to his new responsibilities, but he also wants to make time for personal goals, like his hobby of collecting photographs of all of the 63 California State Historical Landmarks.

In his letter to the Pilot on Nov. 19 ("Refreshing, but not trust-building"), Lefteris Lavrakas throws a couple of education-related challenges at me. He writes, "I'm also unsure as to why he [then NewportMesa school district trustee Tom Egan] avoided direct comment on Steve Smith's contention that schools need innovators, not gatekeepers." This refers to my Nov. 9 commentary on Smith's column of Oct. 21 ("Schools need innovators, not gatekeepers," On the Town). My answer, in a word: space.