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Obviously, no one wants to step into the woodshed on the resignation of Costa Mesa Police Chief Steve Staveley. Saying that Costa Mesa is going through a tough spot in the road or even their mid-life crisis would be grossly understating the problems. God we miss Katrina Foley. She was such a stud on the Costa Mesa Council. Wendy Leece has recently picked up that mantle….but the boys in charge seem to have been particularly tough on her.
Maybe Costa Mesa Policy Wonks just missed the prevailing mood of the country. Maybe they thought that the Governor of Wisconsin was going to go out there, dump handily on Employee Unions of every stripe and move on unscathed. Who knows? We keep waiting for Sarah Palin and Glen Beck to show up on the steps of Costa Mesa City Hall…with the new drawings of the upgraded City Hall…..that includes no Police, Fire or General Services Staff. Hey, they want to outsource it all to Mumbai……all that peripheral government nonsense – you know! Who knows….maybe they do know more than the rest of us.
However, it was a huge move to see the Interim Police Chief….just step down with a flaming letter of resignation that may indeed be used as a template for future separation letters…..at every level of government. Argueably, having “Balls of Brass”, Chief Staveley is leaving his post with a unique florish. It was so bad, that Jim Righeimer had to make some comments for the local television stations. Jimmy did his best to stay on message while blasting Staveley with an abrupt impunity. Jimmy may soon be talking to “60 minutes” before this dust all settles. The dark side of government seems to be on its way to being greatly revealed in Costa Mesa. If Costa Mesa now…..who will be next tomorrow?
Chief Stavely……not bad for just an interim Chief….speaking for your boys and maybe some others……. can’t be all bad. Time for the Costa Mesa City Council to reload their computers with some revolutionary changes to their current policies….perhaps!
I love this guy. Now, watch the umbrage taken by the right wingers who I am sure are so deeply offended by such outrageous comments. How dare he point out the obvious!
“Balls of Brass”? More like a coward who decided to blow up bridges on his way out. Those poor police officers, how dare the Council consider asking them to work 5 eight hour days – the horror. How dare they even consider cutting 8 whole positions (5 real layoff notices by October – the shame)! Your title should have read “just bad for an interim.” Good riddance.
“Blow up bridges on his way out?” Something like the opposite.
He made the difficult decision to leave just so he could tell the truth about what he saw his people having to deal with.
So you’re now a hardcore faithful adherent of the CM Council majority? Bad choice, Newbie. Their lies are falling all around them.
Interim Chief Stavely has “balls of glass” not “ball of brass.” Because of the ridiculous retirement package he can now retire with a huge pension and get a new job at a different police department tomorrow effectively doubling his pay – big risk there. His risk is even further minimized because Costa Mesa is clearly becomming one of the primary battlegrounds in Southern California that will play out the public union pension abuse scandal. He just solidified a bunch of relationships on the left with his burning bridge resignation.
Hey, maybe he will get a pension, get a new full time job AND get paid for joining the speaker’s circuit for the union hacks.
I think we should just get rid of all public employees and go on the business model. Just think–a for profit police department. Imagine the quality of service when the company shareholders just want a profit, and if it means hiring $15 an hour security people, well, great!
Sounds to me like he was a pretty poor leader. Couldn’t take orders so he took his marbles (or $265K per year) and went home!
Politics aside, he failed as a manager.
Did you read his letter? It’s pretty fucking eloquent.
http://www.theliberaloc.com/2011/06/20/interim-costa-mesa-police-chief-abruptly-resigns/
He left because he couldn’t countenance what the Council was doing, and didn’t want to have to aid and abet them.
So of course, Ken, you don’t address the man’s concerns — just call him a name. From the school of Hannity, right?
Generally I expect better from ken…
I don’t disagree with WHAT he said. He very well could be right.
I just think that a guy pulling down $100K + per year as a manager should have acted more comensurate with that position.
Maybe it would have been better if he Quit and then wrote an Editorial, or an open letter. My point was and is, Chief Staveley’s actions appear to be self serving, do little to SOLVE the issues facing the city and rachet up the rhetoric.
The old saying “you can’t fight city hall” that rings true. But if Costa mesan’s prefer they can elect new representation. But this is the city that brought Allan mansor to the scene, so be careful what you wish for!
I didn’t call hima name. I said he looked like a poor leader. A name would be….NEVERMIND.
That accusation is right out of the LOC playbook.
The way I read it the Chief schedules his staff to work shifts that maximize police coverage during critical times of the day. The Council views this schedule as some kind of unearned perk and ordered it stopped. Never mind the degradation of public safety – management by politician vs. management by mission coupled with experience.
Hope the citizens of Costa Mesa are watching how these politicians are impacting public safety, response times, etc. Prediction – the Costa Mesa battleground will be exposed as a cesspool of political agendas, corruption and taxpayer interests be damned.
*Here is a thought. Whatever happened to close sessions for City Council meeting
agenda items. Legal, contentious, labor disputes and the like can be deliberated out of the public eye. A couple of things to consider: Chief Steve is the first Police or Fire leader we have ever heard of that resigned and blasted the Council leadership all in one. Probably happens, but is still quite rare. It is also doubtful that Cheif Steve will be working anywhere near any beach community in the years ahead. Probably not.
What seems apparent..is that the problems are deeper and more problematic that what appears on the surface. The arguments over 5 day work weeks and the like are sophmoronic if anything. The Chief would not be writing a lightning bolt resignation without a whole laundry list of “How come we didn’t discuss these things in closed session”.
Another unionized communist out!
We are winning Folks!
Lets keep hiding them hard where it hurts.
No food, no money on to the street into a homelessness as a lumpenproletariat.
You want to be a communist be one.
Harry Lime……you stangely can’t stop talking about the Commies…..
We do admit…..you are certainly the resident expert on the subject. Commies that is!
Staveley did the right thing.
The man refused to play dirty politics with peoples lives.
To bad Pigheimer, Monosham, Messyinger & the Beav have their heads stuck so far up their own ass that they can’t see the light.
Is it true that the chief lives in Nevada? I read that he files his PIT to avoid state income tax.