Costa Mesa Ca Public Facilities

A new public television show that airs tonight is intended to spark Latino community involvement by discussing education, youth employment, gangs and other issues in Spanish and in English. " Charlas de la Comunidad " or "Living Room Dialogue" will air at 7:30 on Copley Colony's Channel 3 and will replay Thursday night at the same time. Host of the weekly show is Oscar Santoyo, director of the Save Our Youth (SOY) community center.

Tucked between glass office towers and a parking garage near South Coast Plaza, a unique landscape garden known as the California Scenario sits, an homage to the state's environment. Created by renowned Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, the quiet, 1.6-acre retreat is at Park Center Drive and Anton Boulevard in Costa Mesa, effectively detached from the bustle of mall shoppers.

The Estancia High School swimming pool will not be open to the public this summer because of a shortage of water-safety instructors, city officials said. In addition to the shortage of instructors, the pool also experienced a decrease in the number of people signing up for swim classes, said Costa Mesa Aquatics Director Tom Edson. "It's unfair, but our community is sort of divided between rich and poor," Edson said.

The City Council on Monday approved plans for a skate park at 523 Hamilton St., a move that was greeted by a chorus of boos from residents in the audience. With the unanimous 5-0 vote, final planning and construction for the park will begin, along with building a sidewalk on Hamilton Street. "I think we are going to have an asset added to our community" with the park, Councilwoman Heather Somers said. The council's next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

The City Council is looking into the possibility of building a roller hockey rink, but may have difficulty finding the space for such a facility. At its meeting last week, the council asked city staff to investigate whether there is enough room in the city to build the rink. After discussing the matter, council members concluded that TeWinkle Memorial Park's dog park precluded construction of a rink there.

At the urging of residents, the City Council will continue to debate the location of a skateboard park. With Mayor Gary Monahan and Councilman Joe Erickson voting no, the council voted 3 to 2 to reopen discussion on the location of the skateboard park at Lions Park. The vote came after presentations from the newly formed Lions Park Assn. detailing the group's concerns: drainage and traffic problems, loss of green space and displacement of current park users.

The City Council on Monday will consider whether to continue spending $128,000 a year to operate the Costa Mesa Job Center, established in 1988 as a place where day laborers can hook up with individuals looking for painters, plumbers and other workers. "One thing we need to look at is how much money we are spending on this and can that money be used for better purposes," Councilman Gary Monahan said. The center has been controversial.

Corrine Zartler, basset hound owner and frequent visitor to the dog park, believes there are few things worse than a dirty dog. That is why she wants to build a dog wash at the bark park at Arlington Drive and Newport Boulevard. Like any devoted dog owner, Zartler loves to spoil her three canines, Rose, Sophie and George, by taking them to the town dog park to let them run free of their leashes. But getting them home has always been a problem.

About 30 people came to this week's council meeting to demonstrate their support for a community center that may have to be closed. The city is negotiating to extend its lease on the Balearic Center, but faces the hurdle of skyrocketing rents. Since 1977, the city has paid a token rent of $1 a year to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. But school district official Carolyn Stocker said Newport-Mesa now wants market value for renting out the property, which she estimated at $66,000 a year.

Parks commissioners recently declared they want to build high-quality basketball courts in the city, partly in reaction to the dozens of people who came to a January meeting to protest the closing of basketball courts at Tanager Park. "Before we suggest any other sort of improvements, we should address the basketball situation," said commissioner Richard Mehren at the Parks, Recreation Facilities and Parkways Commission meeting.

Close the barn door on the Costa Mesa Farm. The City Council next week will consider renaming the Fairview Road property as the Costa Mesa Sports Complex. The name aims to reflect the farm's impending transformation into six soccer fields. The city in 1996 bought the 18-acre site, next to Costa Mesa High School, for $7 million from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. With an estimated price tag of $1.75 million for the fields, the city soon will seek construction proposals.