Costa Mesa City Council to ask governor to stop sale of fairgrounds

Nov. 18, 2009 | By Susan Valot | KPCC
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The Costa Mesa City Council voted last night to ask Governor Schwarzenegger to stop the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds.

California put the Orange County Fairgrounds on the auction block last month. It's the only fairgrounds on a list of property the state says it needs to sell to help fill the budget gap.

Costa Mesa officials say it doesn't make sense to sell a facility that brings in millions in tax revenue for the city and the state. Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley said the sale has been pushed with little public say-so.

"It is important overall that we stop the sale now because that's critical to anything else that might happen in the future, given the fast pace that we've seen this progress, more so than any other government process than I've ever experienced," Foley said.

Nearly three dozen residents spoke out at last night's meeting. All were against the sale. One man even broke into a parody to the tune of the 1980s song "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. He called it, "Tainted Sale."

After hearing from the public, the Costa Mesa City Council decided to ask the governor to stop the process.

"It's most definitely time that we say with a unified voice, 'Mr. Schwarzenegger, shut down this sale,'" said Mayor Allan Mansoor.

The Costa Mesa City Council also decided to explore bidding for the property, in case the city can't stop the sale.

City officials say they're also drafting a measure for the June ballot. The land-use initiative would require that the Orange County Fairgrounds stay a fairgrounds.

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