Council asks for bid, halt on fair

The Costa Mesa City Council voted Tuesday to prepare a bid and place an offer on the Orange County Fairgrounds by the Jan. 8 deadline, while also voting unanimously to ask the governor to stop the proposed sale.

Residents from across Orange County packed the Council Chambers wearing red, a color that has become a symbol of opposition to the sale, to speak in support of derailing the sale.

Wearing a long red choir robe he borrowed from his church, Vern Nelson replaced the words of “Tainted Love” with “tainted sale” and sang along with a small radio cassette.

“Something I feel / this is just a / tainted sale, rushed through in the dark of night,” Nelson sang and moved to the music. “Once I said ‘save the fair,’ now I say ‘derail the sale!’”

In their presentation, Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley went over the chronology of the fairgrounds’ recent history.

Foley highlighted the action the city took before the Assembly voted to place the 150-acre fairgrounds for sale in July.

She also spoke of the city’s efforts to lock-in the fairgrounds’ use, which include preparing a measure to be placed on the June ballot.

Mayor Allan Mansoor asked city staff to send a DVD recording of Tuesday’s council meeting to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office “so he can see local government in action.”

Although the council members would like to see the proposed sale stopped, their move to prepare a bid is a back-up plan just in case the state “doesn’t listen,” said Councilman Gary Monahan.